Palestinians can use route 443, but Israel will seize Palestinian land to 'secure' it
Reageer (0)By Chaim Levinson
22-3-2010
The Israel Defense Forces intends to seize 50 dunams from the Palestinian village Bitunia "to prevent terror attacks" on Route 443, which will open to Palestinian traffic in 10 weeks.
"Given the need for steps to prevent a terror attack, 49.2 dunams of land from the village Bitunia are being expropriated for security needs, to build the Ofer crossing," states an order signed by GOC Central Command Avi Mizrahi.
As Haaretz reported two months ago, the army plans to build a large roadblock at the Ofer junction, near a goods border crossing.
Route 443, the main highway connecting Modi'in to Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, is supposed to open to Palestinian traffic in two and a half months, in keeping with a High Court of Justice ruling from December 2009, in response to a petition by the human rights group B'Tselem.
The court revoked the ban keeping Palestinians from driving or walking along Route 443, which has been in place since 2000. The court gave the IDF five months to implement the security arrangements, since the defense establishment argued that allowing Palestinians to use the road was a security risk.
Source
