Gush Etzion Regional Council Chairman and Yesha Council Head Shlomo Ne’eman has been nervously tracking the progress of an illegal PA road, built with foreign funding in the “Hascamit Nature Reserve” atop the Judean Desert, just north of Herodion.
On a tour of the area today, Ne’eman discovered that in addition to the building of the road, construction work was being done to essentially create a new town, thus establishing facts on the ground which would cut off Gush Etzion from the Judean Desert.
A sign in Arabic at the start of the road indicates that the road was built with foreign funding, in cooperation with the Palestinian Authority.
The Gush Etzion Regional Council said that the purpose of the road is to harm the territorial continuity of Gush Etzion.
“The new paved road was built in an area of the Hascamit Nature Reserve, which under the Oslo Accords was supposed to remain untouched, without roads or homes. But those promises, versus the reality on the ground paint a different picture. There are both illegal roads and homes in the area. That road must be destroyed,” read a statement from the council.
During his visit today Ne’eman said: “This is what lawlessness looks like.”
He added: “Welcome to the Oslo Accords! Welcome to the Hascamit Nature Reserve. The purpose of a nature reserve is to do just that – preserve nature. According to the agreements nothing is to be built here, it is to remain an untouched barren desert.”
Ne’eman said: “But what is the reality we are seeing here? We see the establishment of an Arab town in every way shape or form, with infrastructure, water sources, roads, pouring of concrete, trucks, everything. This all must stop! We expect the new government from the Defense Minister [Gallant] to the Minister within the Defense Ministry [Smotrich] to get involved and establish order in our country. This has to stop!”
