Route 443 – West Bank road for Israelis only

Route 443 links Jerusalem, Modi’in, and the Tel Aviv area, running partially through the West Bank. Half of its length, the 14 kilometer stretch from the ‘Atarot checkpoint, north of Jerusalem, to the Maccabim checkpoint next to Maccabim-Reut, formerly was the main Palestinian traffic artery in the southern Ramallah District, passed through the centers of villages lying southwest of the city and served tens of thousands of Palestinians on their way between Ramallah and the villages.

In the 1980s, Israel re-routed the road outside of the village centers and expanded it, expropriating for this purpose public and private land of villagers along the route of the roadway. In a petition to the High Court of Justice filed by landowners against the action, the court approved the expropriations, accepting the army’s contention that the road was intended to meet Palestinian needs, since the roads in the West Bank were outdated and no longer sufficient, given the sharp increase in the number of motor vehicles and laborers who worked in Israel and needed these roads. In the course of the hearing before the High Court, the army admitted that the road would not only serve residents of the Occupied Territories, but would also be used by Israelis.

The physical obstacle between the village of Beit Ur al-Fauqa and Route 443. Photo: B’Tselem

In 2002, following several cases of Palestinian gunfire at Israeli vehicles on the road,  in which six Israelis were killed, Israel prohibited Palestinians from using the road, by vehicle or on foot, for whatever purpose, including transport of goods or for medical emergencies. Local Palestinians travelling to Ramallah and between the villages were left with a worn and winding one-lane road that passed through a tunnel under Route 443. The alternate road was much longer than the original road and served all the 35,000 residents of the villages in the area.

The prohibition on Palestinian travel on Route 443 was implemented very effectively, first by physical obstacles – iron gates, concrete blocks, and/or checkpoints - and later by army patrols, which punished Palestinians who violated the prohibition. Subsequently, the Israel Police also began to enforce the prohibition, issuing tickets, on one pretext or another, to Palestinians using the road. Where the road entered Israeli territory at one end (Maccabim Checkpoint) and Jerusalem’s jurisdictional area (‘Atarot Checkpoint) at the other, Israel set up permanent checkpoints.

The ability to use Route 443 is crucial to the villagers. For many of them, this is the main roadway taking them to their farmland, which lies on both sides of the road, and is the primary access road to Ramallah, the commercial center on which the villagers rely for their livelihood, emergency services, social services, hospitals, and schools. Many of the villagers also have relatives and friends who live in the city.  As a result of the prohibition, more than 100 small shops in villages along its route have closed, among them floor-tile establishments, flower shops, furniture stores, and restaurants.

Map of road 443. Road connecting the villages were blocked by the army.
Full map

After much criticism was leveled at it for closing the road to Palestinian travel, Israel built three roads, which it refers to as “fabric of life” roads, to serve as a substitute means to connect the villages with Ramallah. However, paving these roads brought about additional human rights violations: to build these roads, additional land was expropriated from Palestinian villages and villagers. Although these alternate roads have improved villagers’ access to Ramallah, distance and travel time is still longer than by Route 443 for some villagers.

Israel has the right and the duty to protect the lives of every person in territory under its effective control, and has the authority to impose restrictions on movement of residents of the Occupied Territories. However, this applies only when the restrictions are absolutely needed for imperative and urgent military needs, and are proportionate. It does not appear that the sweeping prohibition on Palestinian use of Route 443 meets these conditions, especially since other roads in the West Bank remained open to Palestinian traffic after there had been shooting incidents on them. In addition, it appears that the prohibition is intended to serve extraneous purposes as well. If Israel, in good faith, wanted only to protect the lives of Israelis travelling along the road, it could forbid Israelis from using the road, while building roads and creating alternate means of transportation within its territory.

In June 2007, residents of six villages near Route 443, represented by the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, petitioned the High Court of Justice demanding that the road be opened to Palestinians. Two and a half years later, on 29 December 2009, the High Court ruled that the total ban on Palestinian travel on the segment of the road that runs through the West Bank must be lifted. Justice Uzi Fogelman, who wrote the majority opinion, held that the military commander does not have the power to impose such a ban and that, in any case, such a ban is disproportionate. The court gave the army five months to formulate a different solution for protecting Israelis travelling on the road.

Route 443 is one example of the forbidden-travel regime that Israel imposes on Palestinian vehicles on various roads in the West Bank. However, unlike the separate roads found deep inside the West Bank, Route 443 is used daily by thousands of Israelis on their way between towns inside Israel.

B’Tselem calls on the Israeli authorities to immediately cancel the prohibition on Palestinian travel on Route 443, and to allow Palestinians open use of the road, day and night.