This week, Finance Minister Smotrich and Transportation Minister Regev held a groundbreaking ceremony for construction works on a new bypass road intended to enable a massive expansion of settlements east and north of Ramallah. The road, known as Road 45 or the “Quarries Road,” will run from the settlement of Kokhav Ya’akov, north of the villages of Jaba’ and a-Ram, and will connect to the Qalandiya underpass, which passes beneath the Qalandiya checkpoint. According to the head of the Binyamin Regional Council, the road will allow a travel time of approximately seven minutes from the Ramallah bypass road into Israel, without the need to sit in the heavy traffic jams at the entrances to Jerusalem in Pisgat Ze’ev and at the Hizma checkpoint. For the construction of the road, Israel expropriated approximately 280 dunams of land from Palestinian residents of nearby villages.
Peace Now: While roads inside Israel are collapsing and unable to cope with the traffic load, the government is pouring enormous budgets into a small minority of settlers in grandiose projects that Israel will ultimately be forced to evacuate. The belief that bypass roads around Palestinian villages will erase the political, diplomatic, and security problem known as the settlement enterprise is a dangerous, costly, and violent illusion. The theft of hundreds of dunams for expensive roads that serve so few, only highlights the injustice and absurdity of government policy. Israel does not need more roads that bypass Palestinians, but rather ways to reach a political solution with them.
“Bringing One Million Settlers to Judea and Samaria”
At the opening ceremony, Minister Regev said that the road is part of the effort to “bring one million residents to Judea and Samaria.” Indeed, roads are the key to settlement development. Most settlers commute daily to work inside Israel, and the faster and more convenient the roads are, the more attractive the settlements become. This was the case, for example, after the opening of the eastern Bethlehem bypass road (“the Lieberman Road”), when the number of settlers in the settlements along its route doubled in less than ten years.
Road 45 is a central artery within a network of roads on which the government has been working intensively in recent years, and it is intended to connect to them:
Qalandiya Underpass – A few months ago, work was completed on the Qalandiya underpass (at a cost of approximately NIS 120 million)—a road that passes beneath the Qalandiya checkpoint and is intended to allow settlers to enter Israel quickly without undergoing the strict inspection to which Palestinians are subjected.
Upgrade and Expansion of Road 60 between Sha’ar Binyamin and the British Police Junction – In recent months, work began on expanding and upgrading Road 60 in the section north of Sha’ar Binyamin, at a cost of approximately NIS 600 million.
Upgrade and Expansion of Road 437 (Ramallah Bypass) between Hizma and Sha’ar Binyamin – The works are progressing intensively at a cost of approximately NIS 160 million.
Works on the Qalandiya underpass
An Investment of Approximately NIS 680 Million for Only About 46,000 Settlers
The works on the road that began in recent days primarily affect settlers in the area north and east of Ramallah—Adam, Beit El, Kokhav HaShahar, Kokhav Ya’akov, Ma’aleh Levona, Ma’aleh Mikhmas, Ateret, Eli, Amichai, Ofra, Psagot, Rimmonim, Shilo, and Tel Zion—where approximately 46,000 settlers live. The estimated cost of Road 45 is about NIS 400 million. In addition, approximately NIS 120 million was invested in the construction of the Qalandiya underpass, and about NIS 160 million in the expansion of Road 437.
In total, the government is investing a massive sum of NIS 680 million for only about 46,000 residents—approximately NIS 15,000 per settler.