ShinBet forbids Netanyahu from Modiin-Jlem 443 Highway

Israel's security forces have forbidden Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from traveling on the Modi'in-Jerusalem "443" Highway, due to the elevated threat levels -- a result of the road's opening to general Palestinian traffic.

Israel's Supreme Court ordered the opening of highway 443 to Israeli and Palestinian traffic, after years of it being closed to Palestinians after dozens of terror attacks that left Israelis dead and wounded.

This morning, Netanyahu surprised his cabinet when he announced that he was no longer allowed to travel on that road due to security precautions imposed upon him by the Shin Bet / Israel's internal security department, in light of the road's opening to all a few weeks ago. (Reported by ynet in Hebrew)

A few of my previous posts on 443's security situation: I, II, III, IV, V, VI

Some good news: The traffic light at the dangerous Atarot intersection on 443 has resumed operation, after a 3rd transformer was installed atop a very high electric pole (the previous 2 were stolen by Palestinians after the IDF abandoned a checkpoint at the intersection in favor of a different one, a few kilometers west of it).

Additional background information: I've been asked what roads are off limits to Jews in the West Bank. Some that come to mind are as follows out of many:

1. Road 574 between road 55 and road 505, which used to be a connection between the 2 primary East-West central Shomron roads. (Connecting the Maaleh Shomron/Karnei Shomron are to Elkana). (link)

2. Wallerstein Road (road 463) between Beit El and Dolev. Used to be primary link from Beit El to the Tel-Aviv region. (link)

3. The Betunya bypass road between Jerusalem and the Dolev/Talmon region. (link)

4. Road 60-45 from Adam to Atarot. Closes traffic to Jews from the Eastern side of Jerusalem to the Western side of Jerusalem/Highway 443 (link)

5. Highway 60 from Shavei Shomron to the Mevo Dotan/Shaked/Wadi Ara Region. (link)

There are many more examples; these are just a few that come to mind. If you have any more, please feel free to leave them in the comment section.

hat-tip: RRW

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Highway 443; A Sign of the Times

The following photo was uploaded to rotter.net a few days ago -- and the official yellow sign reads as follows:

Israeli [citizen]: Be Aware;
If you have reached this point,
you have made a mistake!

This sign appears on a road coming off of 443, and means that if you're an Israeli citizen, you've made a mistake, and the road you are now on, is only for Palestinians.

Of course, highway 443 is open to all, but some roads, like the one above, are forbidden to Jews.

Gotta love peace.

UPDATE:
It is of course, no worse than this sign, which is only selectively enforced against Israeli Jews and not Israeli Arabs:

(The Hebrew version doesn't say "Israeli law", just "the law")

Talk about the Palestinian Apartheid State.

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Terror on Road 443

The Modi'in - Jerusalem 443 highway has been opened to general traffic.

After Israel's Supreme Court ruled that the highway must be opened to Palestinian traffic as well as Israeli traffic, despite the numerous terror attacks, the road has been opened.

If you take that road to Jerusalem (like I do, several times a week), a new and serious problem has arisen.

The IDF moved a checkpoint on 443 from 10 meters south of the Atarot junction to the IDF Ofer base junction. Actually, they didn't move the checkpoint on 443 near Atarot, the IDF abandoned that checkpoint and a built a new one a few kilometers north of it.

So what's the big deal? The traffic light at the Atarot junction.

How can a traffic light be a big deal? If you don't know, highway 443 is a divided highway, 2 lanes in each direction, where the average speed limit is about 90 kph (55 mph). Since the IDF has abandoned the checkpoint, the traffic light has stopped working.

After almost getting smashed by another car yesterday, who was making a left hand turn across 2 lanes of traffic, with a non-operational traffic light, I called up Israel's "National Safety Organization" which is responsible for all safety hazards on Israel's roads. The person on the other end knew right away what I was going to say as soon as she heard, "road 443"

She said; "Its not our fault. We have been trying to resolve the problem of the broken traffic light, but you have to hear the whole story. The light isn't broken at all, but the night the IDF abandoned the intersection, Palestinians stole the electrical transformer for the light.

We immediately called the electric company, which came the next day with a replacement transformer, and the traffic light was operational again.

24 hours later, the new transformer was stolen again by Palestinians.

The police say its not their problem, Maatz say its not their problem, and the electric company is now trying to pick a guarded location for the third transformer, which will take time to be installed..."

I suggested in the meantime, that big signs are posted warning drivers of a dangerous intersection.

Its only a matter of time before someone gets seriously injured or killed there.

I guess the Supreme Court didn't think their decision through properly enough.

In the meantime, if you drive to Jerusalem on 443, please be extremely cautious at the Atarot intersection...its a death trap, courtesy of the Palestinians transformer thieves.

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Fatah claims responsibility for (443) Modiin-Jerusalem Shooting Attack

Around 8 PM last night (Tuesday), Palestinian terrorists opened fire on an IDF position adjacent to the Modiin-Jerusalem highway (also know as road 443).

Overlooking road 443, the IDF "pillbox" sits only 5 miles from Modi'in, and is located at the entrance to the Arab village Beit Ur El Tachta.

The Palestinian Authority's terror-wing, Fatah, claimed responsibility in last night's attack -- in which 20 bullets were fired at the IDF position from automatic assault rifles.

I took the following photos of the IDF position this morning. Sorry they are a bit blurry, but I took them while driving past.



Dorit Beinish, Israel's Ivory Tower Chief Justice recently ruled that 443 must be opened to complete Palestinian traffic, despite the risks of terror attacks.

Meanwhile, Knesset Members are introducing legislation to bypass Her Highness, and annex highway 443 to Israel, so that the IDF can continue to provide security on the highway.

Terror Attack Credit: Arabs48/Fatah website.


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The 443 Game

Here's a fun game anyone can play. (Might load slowly)



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Ivory Tower Justices Target Israel's Security

While the USA abhors the very notion of "profiling", Israel has been using it to successfully keep terrorists off its airplanes for years. The USA's "TSA" randomly decides who to check, resulting in excessive security checks for all sorts of people -- including infants and elderly -- who have never hijacked an airplane.

What a waste of time, energy and resources.



In 2006, the Boston Globe praised Israel's security, and what the USA could learn from Israel, yet that was 4 years ago, and not much has changed. There have been more terror attempts -- all of them from Muslim Extremists.

No sensible person imagines that ethnic or religious profiling alone can stop every terrorist plot. But it is illogical and potentially suicidal not to take account of the fact that so far every suicide-terrorist plotting to take down an American plane has been a radical Muslim man. It is not racism or bigotry to argue that the prevention of Islamist terrorism necessitates a special focus on Muslim travelers, just as it is not racism or bigotry when police trying to prevent a Mafia killing pay closer attention to Italians.

Of course most Muslims are not violent jihadis, but all violent jihadis are Muslim. ``This nation," President Bush has said, ``is at war with Islamic fascists." How much longer will we tolerate an aviation security system that pretends, for reasons of political correctness, not to know that?

Unfortunately, Israel has been dumbing-down when it comes to "ordinary" security -- such as terror on the roads. Israel's Ivory-Tower-based Supreme Court ruled against the IDF, that the Modiin-Jerusalem highway 443 must be opened to Palestinian vehicular traffic.

At the start of the most recent Intifiada in late 2000, the 443 highway became a shooting gallery -- as Palestinian terrorists shot up Jewish cars indiscriminately, killing men, women and children. 443 became a ghost road -- and I vividly recall driving the road wearing a bullet proof vest on my way home from work in Jerusalem.

Only after the IDF created alternate routes for the Palestinians, prohibited Palestinian traffic on 443, put up sentry points everywhere and beefed up patrols, did the road become safer again and the average Israeli motorist returned.

"Tuesday's decision came despite the court indicating last year that the road had become a key highway serving tens of thousands of Israelis whose safety would be endangered if Palestinians were allowed to use it unrestrictedly. " (JPost)

Safety of tens of thousands of Israelis...that's not an issue that should bother Israel's Supreme Court.

Their Ivory Tower isn't located anywhere near road 443.

The IDF knows what needs to be done for security, just as we know what needs to be done for airport security. The way things are going now, its only a matter of time before our Supreme Court changes our airline security screenings process as well.

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