Taking 443

June 2, 2010 - 10:55 AM by


Friends of ours from Modi’in drove into Jerusalem to meet us for dinner last night, of course taking Route 443, the controversial road that until last Friday was not open to cars with Palestinian license plates, and is the most direct route to Jerusalem, if you want a 30-minute drive.

Our Modi’in friends didn’t have much of a choice, just like everyone else in Modi’in who regularly drives into Jerusalem, unless they want to take a crazy roundabout route that would take twice as long. And as long as things remain quiet on the road, most people will shrug, like our friends did, when asked if they were concerned. The thinking being, you need to get where you want to go, and you’d rather get there easily and quickly, which is what Route 443 provides.

The opening of the road to Palestinians was a two-year battle waged by the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, and yet very few Palestinians have actually been driving on the road, primarily because the new traffic plan set up by the IDF curtails Palestinian drivers from easily reaching Ramallah, the nearest Arab city with stores and services, which was always the purpose of 443 for those living in Arab villages along the road.

It’s incredibly frustrating, I get that. Before 2002 — and the repeated attacks on 443 that killed and injured Israeli travelers during the intifada — travel time from 443-area Palestinian villages to Ramallah was roughly 20 to 30 minutes. Without 443, it takes an hour to arrive at Ramallah. That’s a long way for a trip to the mall.

So now Israeli soldiers are sitting around at the new checkpoints along Route 443, waiting for Palestinians who aren’t going to be arriving since they can’t reach Ramallah. Meanwhile, the rest of us, aiming to get to Jerusalem, or to Modi’in, or any of the Israeli cities beyond Modi’in, pretty much sail through the checkpoints with a wave and a smile at the soldiers manning — or womanning — their posts. After all, they could be our kids. They’re certainly someone else’s kids.

I’m not bemoaning the measures taken to protect the safety of Israeli drivers on the road. I also want to continue driving on 443 without worrying about whether something could happen. But it would be nice to know that the road could benefit Palestinians as well, without worrying about the possible dangers of doing so. Unfortunately, nothing is ever that simple around here.

Tags: , , , • Category: General, Life, Politics, War 

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