BEIT SIRA, West Bank: The Israeli military partially opened a West Bank highway to Palestinian drivers on Friday to comply with a ruling of the country’s highest court.
The road, known as Highway 443, is a major link between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv and is heavily traveled by Israeli commuters. Much of its length runs through the West Bank, one of the territories Palestinians claim for their hoped-for state and parts of it were paved on land expropriated from Palestinians.
The Israeli military, which maintains overall control of the West Bank, banned Palestinian cars in 2002 after a string of Palestinian shooting attacks on the road killed Israeli motorists.
In 2007, with Israeli-Palestinian violence winding down, local Palestinians petitioned Israel’s Supreme Court, demanding to be allowed to use the road. The court agreed that the ban was discriminatory and ordered the highway opened, despite the military’s argument that the move would endanger Israelis because it could allow insurgents to easily access the road and escape into Palestinian villages.
Military spokesman Peter Lerner said Friday the military had fully complied with the court ruling.
But Palestinians and Israeli human rights groups say the opening is insufficient because army checkpoints still effectively restrict Palestinians to a short section of about six miles (nine kilometers) and block access to the cities of Ramallah and Jerusalem.
Attorney Dan Yakir of the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, which filed the court appeal on behalf of the Palestinians, noted at a press conference this week that much of the road was built on land confiscated from Palestinians. He said the only solution to any security problems would be to bar Israelis, not Palestinians, from the road.
A small number of Palestinian cars were seen on the road after the reopening Friday, with Israeli soldiers checking each car thoroughly before allowing it onto the highway.
