Defense Minister Shimon Peres said last night that Jerusalem must be surrounded with a chain of settlements and Jewish industrial enterprises. He said such projects were a top priority and a manifestation of “practical Zionism” in Israel. “Instead of the inhibited, apologetic Zionism of excuses for Israel’s actions, our Zionism must start to be one of uplift, of building and development and immigrant absorption,” Peres told a meeting of the Jerusalem Economic Club.
He emphasized the need to step up development work in Galilee and the Rafah salient. But he stressed the importance of bolstering the capital with surrounding settlements and industrial zones, especially in light of Arab settlements and developments in Jerusalem’s environs. He said an important step in that direction was the projected Ma’aleh Ha’ Adumim industrial zone and workers’ residences on the Jerusalem-Jericho road and the IL 60 million investment by Israel Aircraft Industries Ltd, in a plant in the Jerusalem district.
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