Palestinian, Israeli, and international activists holding banners saying "No to apartheid, no to annexation" blocked the recently opened Eastern Ring Road for about 20 minutes. The new road has lanes for Palestinian and Israeli drivers, divided by an eight-meter concrete wall. The protest was dispersed after Israeli Border Police used stun grenades and arrested two protesters east of Jerusalem. Construction of the road is planned to run southward, further entrenching two separate and unequal transportation systems in the West Bank. Palestinian and human rights activists say this is part of Israel’s Greater Jerusalem plan, which includes the expansion of the illegal Israeli settlement of Ma’ale Adumim into the highly contested E1 area and annexation of a number of illegal Israeli settlements around Jerusalem; attempts at displacing local Bedouin communities in the Jerusalem periphery complement the plan.
