What hasn’t Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised voters in the last week before the election? He is offering a free year in college for anyone who completes military service or national service. He is willing to erase the criminal records of anyone charged with using cannabis. He is prepared to lower taxes and increase deregulation, and more. Among all these proposals, which may not have a chance of being fulfilled after March 2, there is one especially dramatic promise. This week, Netanyahu announced that he would lift the freeze on a plan to construct 3,500 new housing units in Area E1 between Jerusalem and the settlement town of Ma’ale Adumim. Earlier, Netanyahu announced that he had approved the expansion of the Har Homa neighborhood (2,000 housing units) as well as construction in Givat HaMatos (4,000 units).
What’s the difference between the housing units in these three areas and the wave of construction that occurred in the settlements throughout Netanyahu’s term in office? The answer can be found in remarks he made Feb. 20 while overlooking the Har Homa neighborhood. “I hereby announce the creation of Har Homa E. … It will be a neighborhood with 5,000 residents, just like a mid-sized city in Israel.” The strategic location of the Har Homa neighborhood in the south of Jerusalem, on the Palestinian side of the Green Line, as well as the two other neighborhoods, eliminates any chance of establishing a future Palestinian state, and kills the idea of a two-state solution. From now on, the only possible future on the table is annexation and a binational state.
