January 11, 2013

(JTA) — Palestinian residents erected an outpost in the E1 area east of Jerusalem.

According to Ynet, approximately 200 Palestinians erected about 50 tents in the area, in response to plans announced by the Israeli government in November to build settlements in the E1 corridor which connects Jerusalem to Ma’aleh Adumim, a West Bank settlement. 

Ynet reported that a small contingent of international organizations were also involved in the construction of the tent outpost, which the activists called Baab al Shams, meaning “sunny gateway” in Arabic.

The Palestinians claim that building in E1 would cut Jerusalem off from the rest of the West Bank, break up the territorial continuity of a future Palestinian state and sound the death knell to a two-state solution.

Israel’s government argues that bypass roads would maintain contiguity.

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