1,000 families appeal High Court decision to open Route 443

by Dan Slobodkin

Some 1,000 families are scheduled to appeal to the High Court against its decision to open Route 443 to Palestinian traffic at the end of the month.

Legal organization Shurat HaDin is slated to submit the petition in the name of at least 1,000 families from Ramot, Beit Horon, Modi’in and Givat Ze’ev, asking for a new hearing on the decision.

Four months ago the High Court accepted a petition by Palestinians and human rights organizations to open the highway linking Jerusalem to Modi’in, Ben-Gurion Airport and Tel Aviv. The route was closed in 2002 during the second intifada, following a string of terror incidents and attacks against Israeli vehicles. Until then, the road had served as many as 55,000 Palestinians living in several villages along the length of the highway, including Beit Sira, Saffa, Beit Ur a-Tahta and Khirbat al-Misbah.

The High Court ruled that since the security situation has improved since the intifada the closure is unlawful, giving the IDF until the end of May to find a solution to enable Palestinian vehicles to travel the 14-kilometer section of road.

Atty. Nitzana Durshan-Leitner, who is representing the families, says the petition contains a number of new arguments and material, including a new study on the affect the move has had on the highway’s users along with the opinions of ranking security officials.

“Nothing outweighs security  considerations regarding the lives of citizens — certainly not the convenience of area residents. There is no need for further murder victims in order to reach this conclusion. The closure of the road by the army command was at the due to the Palestinians. Reopening it will endanger the lives of Israeli users of the road,” she said.

In recent months a new checkpoint at Ofer Junction has been under construction and a barbed wire fence is being erected near Givat Ze’ev, but residents of nearby communities say there is no reason to open the road to Palestinian vehicles, noting that Palestinians can freely use alternative routes.

Tags: High Court, highway, IDF, Jerusalem, Modiin, Route 443, Tel Aviv