Newsgroup: it.politica.pds
Titolo: Route 443 – West Bank road for Israelis only

Route 443 – West Bank road for Israelis only 
Route 443, which links Jerusalem and the Tel Aviv area, used to be a major
Palestinian traffic artery in the southern Ramallah District and was the
main thoroughfare between Ramallah and the Palestinian villages lying
southwest of the city. Prior to the second intifada, which broke out in
September 2000, Israel widened the road – requisitioning private
Palestinian property in the process – into a four-lane highway. Israel
contended that the land was taken to meet the needs of the local
population and promised that the local villagers would be allowed to use
it. 
Despite the promise, in 2002, Israel prohibited Palestinians to travel by
car or foot on the fourteen kilometers of the roadway that lie in the West
Bank . The prohibition also applied in emergency medical cases and to the
transport of goods for the surrounding Palestinian villages. Palestinians
were left with a one-lane road connecting the villages to the road to
Ramallah and for travel between the villages. This alternate road was worn
and winding and passed through a tunnel under Route 443. It was much
longer than the original road and served all the 35,000 residents of the
villages lying on either side of the road. 
The prohibition on Palestinian travel on Route 443 was never authorized by
military order or by any other legal means. It was effectively implemented
by physical obstructions – iron gates, concrete blocks, and/or checkpoints
and later by army patrols, which stopped and punished Palestinians caught
driving or walking along the road, to make it clear to Palestinians that
they were not allowed to use the road. Subsequently, the Israel Police
began to enforce the prohibition, and issued tickets, on one pretext or
another, to Palestinians using the road. At both ends of the road, where
it entered Israeli territory (Maccabim Checkpoint) or Jerusalem 's
jurisdictional area (Atarot Checkpoint), Israel set up permanent
checkpoints at which the vehicles crossing were checked. This situation
continues today. 
Movement along Route 443 is crucial to the villagers. For many of them,
this is the main roadway taking them to their farmland and the primary
access road to Ramallah. Ramallah is the commercial center on which the
villagers rely for their livelihood, for emergency services, social
services, hospitals, schools, as well as being the home of relatives and
friends. As a result of the prohibition, more than one hundred small shops
have closed along the route, among them floor-tile establishments, flower
shops, furniture stores, and restaurants. 
To “compensate” the villagers for the prohibition on using the road,
Israel has built three roads, referred to by the authorities as “fabric of
life” roads, to connect the villages with Ramallah. Construction of these
roads entailed the taking of additional land from the villages and
villagers located on and alongside these roads. The route of the roads is
longer than Route 443 and passes through the local villages. In addition,
the alternate roads are intended to perpetuate the existing situation, in
which Palestinians are prohibited to use the main road, which, as stated,
passes across their land, and despite Israel 's promise that these
landowners would be allowed to use it. 
The prohibition infringes the right of Palestinians to freedom of
movement, and, as a result, their ability to exercise other rights, such
as the rights to health, work, family and social life, and education. The
“fabric of life” roads that Israel built also infringe the property rights
of Palestinian villagers in the area. 
Israel has the right and even the duty to protect the lives of every
person on territory under its effective control, including territory it
occupies. Israel also has the right to impose restrictions on movement of
Palestinians, but only when needed for security reasons and in accordance
with the principle of proportionality. The prohibition on Palestinian use
of Route 443 appears to be based on extraneous reasons, the most important
being Israel 's desire to annex, de facto, the area along which the road
runs. The road is a main thoroughfare between two parts of Israel ,
Jerusalem and the Tel Aviv area. If Israel were only interested in
protecting the lives of Israelis using the road, without annexing the
area, it could limit or even prohibit the travel of Israelis on the road,
and build other roads and provide other means of transportation to connect
Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. 
The prohibition on travel also flagrantly breaches international law,
which forbids collective punishment. According to Israel , the
restrictions on movement are part of its ongoing struggle against security
threats, and are intended for deterrence and not as punishment. However,
the vast majority of the persons suffering from the prohibition are not
personally suspected of posing any threat to Israeli security. The
prohibition also constitutes discrimination based on the national origin
of the person wanting to use the road. Such discrimination is forbidden
under international law. 
In July 2007, residents of six of the villages along the route,
represented by the Association for Civil Rights in Israel , petitioned the
High Court of Justice to remove the obstructions that deny them access to
the road, and to open the road to Palestinian travel. In response, the
army announced that it would allow eighty vehicles from the petitioners'
villages to use the road. They would be allowed to use the road only
during the day. Travel at night would be allowed for humanitarian needs,
following coordination with the Civil Administration. Palestinian vehicles
could enter the road via the checkpoint near Khirbata al-Misbah and
continue to the village of al-Jib, where the vehicles would switch to the
“fabric of life” roads that link the village with Ramallah. The new
arrangement is supposed to begin this month (October) and continue until
May 2008, when the army will reconsider its necessity. 
This arrangement will provide for only partial movement of villagers
living along Route 443 to and from Ramallah. Also, it does not solve the
issue of principle, that of the army placing prohibitions and restrictions
on Palestinians using the road. With a limited number of Palestinian
vehicles allowed to use the road, and with the travel being limited to
daylight hours, many Palestinians will continue to be restricted from
exercising basic human rights, such as family visits and regular travel to
their places of work. 
Route 443 is one example of the travel-prohibition regime Israel imposes
on Palestinian vehicles on various roads in the West Bank . B'Tselem calls
on the Israeli authorities to immediately remove the prohibition on
Palestinian travel on Route 443, and to allow residents of the nearby
villages open use of the road, day and night. B'Tselem also urges the
authorities to remove similar restrictions on other roads in the West
Bank, among them Route 557, which runs from the Huwara checkpoint to the
villages of Beit Furik and Beit Dajan, and to the Elon Moreh settlement,
in Nablus District, and Route 90 (the Jordan Valley road), which is the
main north-south artery in the Jordan Valley. 
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