About two weeks ago Marcia and I visited Ma’Aleh Adumim with friends who live there. The city has “twice won the national prize for environmental quality and features 275 acres of green space, dozens of playgrounds, and outdoor sculptures. Housing prices are also significantly lower than in Jerusalem itself.” A city of maybe 25,000 (I’ve read several different numbers), Ma’Aleh Adumim is located about 4 1/2 miles east of Jerusalem. It is surrounded by desert. At night from our friends’ balcony you can see traffic on the road leading to Amman, Jordan.
Because it is a “settlement” east of the 1949 Armistice Agreement Green Line, it is also surrounded by controversy.
