Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin on Monday defended Israel's settlement construction plan in the E1 corridor connecting Jerusalem to Ma'aleh Adumim, saying the move was not a retaliatory measure but rather the result of the Jewish nations's historic right to its homeland.
"We are building our homeland not as a retaliatory measure against a political move and not as a 'price tag,'" Rivlin said. "Itamar is not a reprisal, nor is building in E1, nor anywhere else... These are simply results of our right to our homeland."