RAMALLAH, May 23 (JMCC) - Israeli officials are making preparations to open Route 443 to Palestinian traffic this month. The preparations include the building of several checkpoints to screen Palestinian cars seeking to enter the road, reports the Jerusalem Post.
The road is considered “strategic” since it is one of two that link Jerusalem with the Central region.
In recent weeks, the army has erected a barbed-wire fence along the road and surrounding the Givat Ze’ev settlement. It has also built a new checkpoint at the entrance to the road that leads to Beit Ghur a-Fawka, where Palestinian cars will be checked before being allowed onto the highway. Another checkpoint is being set up at the entrance to the side road that leads to Beit Sirya.
A third checkpoint, to eventually have six lanes, is under construction near the Ofer Prison and will be used to control Palestinian traffic coming from Ramallah onto the highway and then into Jerusalem.
Read the story at the
Jerusalem Post...