T. BELMAN. The Arabs don’t care about contiguity. They have done nothing to achieve it since 1995. Besides there are different clans in each Area A as Kedar has pointed out. In any event no tunnels should be built before the final settlement.
I would though favour a high speed tunnel from Ramallah to Jordan. The other A’s can also be connected to it. This will cement the idea among Palestinians, that Jordan is their home and future.
Premier floats plans during meeting in Paris with French businesspeople, says it could allow for territorial contiguity between settlements and for Palestinians
By SHALOM YERUSHALMI, ISRAEL HAYOM 4 February 2023, 10:30 pm
Teslas park in the Las Vegas Convention Center Loop, an underground tunnel developed by Elon Musk’s The Boring Company, June 8, 2021, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has proposed building a network of underground highway systems across the West Bank to enable the maintenance of territorial contiguity for both Israeli settlements and Palestinian towns, The Times of Israel’s sister site, Zman Yisrael, reported Saturday.
Netanyahu is aiming for high-speed tunnels routes designed ostensibly to address the problems of traffic jams and congestion, per the vision of the billionaire Elon Musk, and his engineering firm Boring Company.
Netanyahu presented his plans during a conversation Friday with French investors in Paris at the hotel where he spent the weekend.
According to Netanyahu, the tunnel routes could refute Palestinian claims that they have no territorial contiguity in the West Bank, as their communities would be linked underground.
The network would also make it possible to travel between settlements in a matter of a few minutes.
The proposal would also help solve other settlement-related issues, essentially annexing the settlements to Israel via the network of tunnels and highways, and enabling improved security and protection against Palestinian attacks for Israeli motorists in the area.
During the conversation with the French investors, whose total wealth was estimated by the prime minister at $150 billion, Netanyahu asked who would be willing to invest in such a project. Several of them enthusiastically raised their hands.
One of the investors told Netanyahu that he invests in Israel but has endless bureaucratic problems, mainly with the Israel Land Authority.
“How long does it take you to solve problems with them?” Netanyahu asked.
“A whole year,” the investor complained.
“You are doing well, it takes me longer,” Netanyahu replied.
@Sebastien
Worse than that, it provides the Arabs convenience, infrastructure and something of permanence to value staying where they are. These are the last thing which we should be encouraging. It is better for them to leave and more importantly, to us at least, it is better for us that they have a reason to leave. I am all for the Pals pursuing a meaningful and profitable future, but let them seek it elsewhere so that they will find it elsewhere and remain elsewhere. If we are to provide them with such assets as a high speed rail system, let us give it to them in such a place that it will take them elsewhere or that it will lead them elsewhere, not so that they find a reason to remain in Israel.
Hopefully Edgar is correct that this is just a diversionary ruse. Otherwise it is a very sad, very bad and very counterproductive idea.
@Felix Indeed. Sounds like one of Simon Peres’ pipe dreams.
Must be throwing every patriotic Jew into deep depression. Netanyahu has lost the plot entirely.
Oh pleeeezzz. I have an aversion to tunnels and don’t feel comfortable in them at all. More importantly, I am living in Israel to enjoy the country, the nature, the scenery, the history etc. The biggest joy in driving anywhere is the chance to see the countryside again. Short tunnels are okay, but this report doesn’t specify exactly where they will be or how long the stretches underground will be. And how long will it take to build such a network? Would commuters rather have more trains?
THIS is the most ridiculous concept I have ever heard.In a peaceful and non activist society , yes, but in Israel….swarming with home grown terrorist with sophisticated international advice and aid.
A recipe for utter disaster. If it were only a tunnel from Ramallah to Jordan, I can understand it, but why even that ?? There is an above ground route to Jordan already in place and easy to use.
And tunnels.., for Jews, to connect Jewish towns and cities> The cost would be enormous, dwarfing the billions spent of the Gaza high tec wall which doesn’t do it’s job, and the target for all kinds of terrorist groups to congregate to destroy. like waving a rag to attract a vicious bull.
This MUST be a joke…..A diversionary announcement for something else.
One can liken it to an open fireplace; the tinder being million dollar notes and the fuel being cans of gasoline.
Sounds like a Thea Von Harbeau concept.
A variation on “the Kedar’s emirates”!
Will be rejected.
Must thoroughly defeat Arab terrorism first in J & S and Gaza!