Ma'ale Adummim
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Image:Location ma'ale adumim.gif
Ma'ale Adummim (מעלה אדומים; unofficially also spelled Maale Adumim) is an Israeli settlement in the Judea region of the West Bank, east of Jerusalem. Founded in 1976, it is now sometimes considered to be a suburb of Jerusalem, mainly because most of its population works in Jerusalem.
Prior to the city's establishment on barren hilltops outside Jerusalem, the land upon which the city was built was unoccupied land declared "State Land" by both the Ottoman Empire and then the Kingdom of Jordan. It was conquered by Israel during the 1967 war, after Jordan refused a request by Israel not to attack following Israel's pre-emptive strikes against Syria and Egypt.
Once the city was established on "State Land", it was declared a city in 1991. The municipal borders are about 50 square kilometres (19 square miles) in size. According to the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), in 2005 the city had a total population of 29,800 (28,700 in 2004 - ¹).
Ma'ale Adummim is one of the largest Jewish communities in the West Bank. The city's planning scheme, which was finalized in 1983, sets Ma'ale Adummim borders to an area of approximately 35 square kilometers. Of these, only 3.7 square kilometers have been built so far, representing the settlements of Ma'ale Adummim, Mishor Adumim, Kfar Adumim, and Allon <ref> Template:Note labelTemplate:Note label Template:Cite web </ref>.
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Demographics
Image:Ma'ale adumim expansion photo.jpg
As of 2005, the estimated population of Ma'ale Adummim is 32,000.
According to the CBS, in 2001 the ethnic makeup of the city was 99.8% Jewish. See Population groups in Israel.
According to the CBS, in 2001 there were 12,700 males and 13,000 females. The population of the city was spread out with 44.1% 19 years of age or younger, 14.2% between 20 and 29, 23.1% between 30 and 44, 12.6% from 45 to 59, 2.1% from 60 to 64, and 3.9% 65 years of age or older. The population growth rate in 2001 was 3.3%. With the opening of a new neighborhood (07), which will add approximately 15,000 more residents, the population is anticipated to reach 45,000 in the next few years.
Income
According to the CBS, as of 2000, in the city there were 9,965 salaried workers and 660 are self-employed. The mean monthly wage in 2000 for a salaried worker in the city is NIS 6,337, a real change of 8.9% over the course of 2000. Salaried males have a mean monthly wage of NIS 8,153 (a real change of 9.0%) versus NIS 4,615 for females (a real change of 6.3%). The mean income for the self-employed is 7,098. There are 396 people who receive unemployment benefits and 388 people who receive an income guarantee.
Education
According to the CBS, there are 14 schools and 5,793 students in the city, although several more have been added in the last few years. They are spread out as 10 elementary schools and 3,524 elementary school students, and 7 high schools and 2,269 high school students. 66.9% of 12th grade students were entitled to a matriculation certificate in 2001.
Controversies
Image:Expansion plan Ma'ale Adummim.gif
The area known as Ma'ale Adummim was originally state owned land, under the Turks during the Ottoman Empire rule and then under Jordan prior to the 1967 war. When Israel conquered the area (after being attacked by Jordan), Israel took over the land between Jerusalem and the Jordan River, including the land on which Ma'ale Adummim was built. This land was then declared "State Land" by the Israeli government, as it had been under the Jordanians and the Turks. Despite claims of ownership by the Palestinian residents of refugee camp Abu-Dies, both the Jordanians and the Israelis dismissed these accusations as false and continued to recognize the land as state-owned. Starting from 1982, the Jahalin Bedouin who had been living on the outskirts of the city were ordered and sometimes physically transferred to another site as a result of repeated burglaries and in one instance the detection of smuggled and hidden weapons that were to have been used by Palestinian terrorists.
Despite the beauty of the city and the fact that it employs hundreds of Arabs, Palestinians, and Bedouins, Ma'ale Adummim is seen by Palestinians as a threat to the territorial continuity of any future Palestinian state, given its strategic situation between the northern and southern areas of the West Bank. In January 2006, a UN report by John Dugard of the Human Right Commission in Geneva, stated that "the three major settlement blocs - Gush Etzion, Ma’ale Adummim and Ariel - will effectively divide Palestinian territory into cantons or Bantustans." <ref> "Question of the Violation of Human Rights in the Occupied Arab Territories, Including Palestine - Report of the Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Human Rights, John Dugard, on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967 </ref> However, the mayor of the city and others have shown that this would not be the case, by prominantly displaying a carefully planned by-pass road, similar to the ones that hundreds of Israelis use daily to avoid injury should they pass near or through Arab areas.
The project, recently supported by Ariel Sharon, and many others, to link Ma'ale Adummim to Jerusalem has been criticized by the Palestinian Authority and several other parties, including US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and US President George W. Bush <ref> Template:Cite news </ref>. However, Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has recently again verified his intention to follow plans long established by previous governments, indicating that this uninhabited hilltop does not in any way infringe on the rights or needs of Palestinians. The plan, which concerns the E1 hilltop, is presently under construction and will be the site of a police station and homes.
References
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