JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israel Police dismantled an outpost in the controversial E1 area that was erected at the same time that President Obama arrived in Israel.
Some 40 Palestinian activists and their supporters were removed early Sunday morning in an operation that reportedly involved 200 police and security officers and took about an hour.
At least three activists were arrested, including one woman for attacking a police officer, The Jerusalem Post reported.
The outpost was named Grandchildren of Yunis, a reference to a popular Palestinian novel about Palestinians after the State of Israel was established.
Palestinians began setting up outposts in January in the E1 corridor, which connects Jerusalem to Maale Adumim, a West Bank settlement. The Israeli government in November approved plans to build settlement housing in the area in response to the Palestinians’ decision to appeal to the United Nations General Assembly for enhanced statehood status.
The Palestinians claim that building in E1 would cut off Jerusalem from the rest of the West Bank, break up the territorial contiguity 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.
