The Future of Metropolitan Jerusalem lies in the Judean Desert

Jerusalem is the largest city in Israel with 900 000 inhabitants. Due to the predominantly religious nature of the Jewish population of Jerusalem, Jewish Jerusalemites have a high natural growth rate. While it will be possible to accommodate some of the population growth by building skyscrapers in the place of current buildings, it is clear that the demographic future of metropolitan Jerusalem lies in eastward expansion into the Judean Desert. The Judean Desert is largely uninhabited and offers ample space for metropolitan Jerusalem’s housing needs. The E1 project is intended as an expansion of the indigenous city of Ma’aleh Adumim that lies to the east of Jerusalem. The E1 will importantly connect Jerusalem with Ma’aleh Adumim. There has been much talk about the E1 preventing a hypothetical “Palestinian state”. This is nonsense as the northern and southern regions of Palestinian Judea (Ramallah and Hebron regions respectively) could be connected anywhere in the Judean Desert which remains largely uninhabited. It is essential for Israel to build in the E1 area to promote the eastward expansion and development of the Jerusalem metropolitan area into the Judean Desert.