29 March 1996

CORRECTION ABOUT THE NEW ROAD IN BETHLEHEM

Land and Water Establishment

PO Box 20873

Jerusalem

Tel: (972) (2) 812364/824559

Fax: (972) (2) 811072

email: lawe@netvision.net.il

Correction:

The "by-pass road" we described yesterday in our press release is not a by-pass road as we first thought - it is a military ring-road designed to demarcate the illegal (by international law) and unrecognized (particularly by the United States) boundaries of annexed Jerusalem of 1968. This road, running through the West Bank and the middle of Bethlehem, will be 20 meters in width, unpaved and for military vehicles only. The Israeli government has already tendered notice for several contracts for a fence or wall to be built along this road. This road is part of the new plan announced by the Israeli government and financed by the United States to separate the West Bank from Israel, and reveals an attempt by the Israeli government to stretch the boundaries of Jerusalem into Bethlehem.

The United States, although it has never recognized the illegal annexation of East Jerusalem and its greatly expanded limits, and touts itself as an "honest broker" in the peace negotiations, is currently financing this plan to change the borders, and therefore to change the status quo, of Bethlehem and Jerusalem. This road prejudices the final status negotiations on Jerusalem and its boundaries, and violates article XV of the Oslo Accords which stipulates that Israel must maintain the status quo in the West Bank and Jerusalem pending the outcome of the permanent status negotiations. This means that creating a kind of security perimeter along the Israeli definition of "greater" Jerusalem constitutes a blatant violation of the Oslo Accords.

It will follow the same trajectory as we described yesterday - that is, it will begin at the tunnel built for the Gilo settlement bypass road around the Arab village of Beit Jala, move east to the road which runs next to Rachel's Tomb (in Bethlehem, which stands in Area C and on the main road to Hebron), will continue to the parking lot near the Bethlehem checkpoint, and then move east again to the Abu Ghneim mountain, where the new Har Homa settlement is planned.

Protest Action:

Protests have been planned against this new road, organized by a committee comprised of the Bethlehem, Beit Jala and Beit Sahour municipalities, the Committee for the Defense of Land, landowners, Representatives of political parties, and Bethlehem Members of Parliament.

• Friday, 29 March - Protest planned on the confiscated land near the parking lot at the Bethlehem checkpoint at 12:00. Protesters plan to set up tents and begin a 24 hour vigil at the spot.
• Saturday, 30 March - Land Day: Correction - A march will take place at 12:00 from the Bethlehem municipality to the confiscated land (and not at 10:00 as previously announced).