The Tribune reported on Feb.20 that new homes were approved by the Israeli cabinet for three “West Bank settlements.” One of those “settlements” was Maaleh Adumim. I just returned from that “settlement,” and it was not at all what I expected.
I expected to see a small compound surrounded by barbed wire and patrolled by Israeli troops. A taxi drove my wife, daughter and me from the small Jerusalem airport to Maaleh Adumim. We entered the “settlement” on a modern, four-lane highway. There were no fences. There were no guards. Instead of barbed wire, I saw flowers everywhere.
This so-called settlement is a beautiful city of 30,000 middle-class Israelis. The white stone apartment buildings, townhouses and homes with palm trees and lemon trees surrounding them looked more like California than a “West Bank settlement.”
The tower of Hebrew University is clearly visible from the hilltops of Maaleh Adumim. It is a 30-minute bus ride to the center of Jerusalem. It will only take nine minutes if a direct highway is constructed.
I asked the “settlers” about the Arab land.The West Bank was conquered by Israel in the 1957 war against the armies of Egypt, Jordan and Syria. It was a war of survival. The Arab nations had vowed to push the Jews into the sea. When the United States returns Texas to Mexico, Israel will give up Maaleh Adumim.
