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 the villages’ land 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.

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Despite the promise, as of 2002, Israel has prohibited Palestinians to travel by car or foot on the 14 kilometers of the roadway that lie in the West Bank. The prohibition also applies in emergency medical cases and to the transport of goods for the surrounding Palestinian villages. Palestinians were left with a one-lane road for travelling to Ramallah and between the villages. This road is worn and winding and passes through a tunnel under Route 443. It is much longer than the original road and serves all the 35,000 residents of the villages lying on either side of the road.

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

The prohibition on Palestinian travel on Route 443 was never authorized by military order or by any other legal means. It has, however, been effectively implemented: first by physical obstructions – iron gates, concrete blocks, and/or checkpoints - and later by army patrols, which punish Palestinians caught driving or walking along the road, to make it clear to Palestinians that they are forbidden to use the road. 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 enters Israeli territory at one end (Maccabim Checkpoint) and Jerusalem’s jurisdictional area (Atarot Checkpoint) at the other, Israel has set up permanent checkpoints at which crossing vehicles are checked.

The ability to use Route 443 is crucial to the villagers. For many of them, this is the main roadway taking them to their farmlands and is 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, and schools. Many also have relatives and friends who live in the city. Furthermore, as a result of the prohibition, more than 100 small shops have closed along the route, among them floor-tile establishments, flower shops, furniture stores, and restaurants.

After much criticism was leveled at Israel for closing the road to Palestinian travel, authorities decided to pave three roads, referring to them as “fabric of life” roads, to connect the villages with Ramallah. To this end, additional land was taken from the villagers living alongside the route. These roads do not meet local needs, as they are longer than Route 443 and wind through each village. As such, they are an inadequate substitute for Route 443. Moreover, these alternate roads are intended to perpetuate the existing situation, in which Palestinians are prohibited to use the main road, although it passes across their lands and was taken with the promise that the landowners would be allowed to use it.

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

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 alternate roads that Israel built also infringe the property rights of Palestinian villagers in the area.

Israel has the right and 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 crucial for security reasons and in accordance with the principle of proportionality. The prohibition on Palestinian use of Route 443 appears to serve extraneous purposes, 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, while building other roads and providing other means of transportation inside its territory.

The prohibition 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 prevention 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 racial discrimination, as it is based on the national origin of the person wanting to use the road. Such discrimination is forbidden under international law.

In June 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 80 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 only 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. It was suggested that the new arrangement begin in October and continue until May 2008, when the army would reconsider its necessity.

While the proposed arrangement would provide for partial movement of villagers living along Route 443 to and from Ramallah, it is insufficient and does not change the fundamental situation, in which the army prohibits and restricts Palestinians from using the route. With a limited number of Palestinian vehicles allowed to use the road, and with travel being limited to daylight hours, many Palestinians would still be unable to properly exercise their basic human right to live a normal life, including getting to work, access to services, and family visits. Therefore, the villagers rejected the proposal, and their petition remains before the High Court.

Route 443 is one example of the travel-prohibition regime Israel imposes on Palestinian vehicles on various roads throughout the West Bank. B’Tselem calls on the Israeli authorities to immediately cancel the prohibition on Palestinian travel on Route 443, and to allow residents of the nearby villages, and all Palestinians, open use of the road, day and night. B’Tselem also urges the authorities to remove similar restrictions placed 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.