Following a hearing on ACRI’s petition against the prohibition on Palestinian vehicles on Route 443 on March 5, the Supreme Court issued an interim decision which effectively issued a stamp of approval on the separation of roads according to nationality, one set of roads for Palestinians and one for Israelis. Supreme Court President Dorit Beinish and judges Levi and Fogelman issued an interim decision ordering the state to submit a progress report on the construction of a parallel road for Palestinians within six months.
The Court’s decision sets a dangerous precedent for human rights in the Occupied Territories. Not only does it uphold state-sponsored racial segregation, it disregards all of ACRI’s principled claims and accepts the State’s claims at face value. In the aftermath of the shocking decision, ACRI is deliberating its next steps; we will keep our supporters updated of new developments in this case.
Palestinian residents of the West Bank have been prohibited from driving on Route 443, a main thoroughfare for some 160,000 area residents, since the end of 2000. The case itself represents a watershed moment in the legal history of the Israeli occupation of the West Bank. In the 1980s, parts of the road were built on land expropriated by the Israeli Military Commander. In response to a petition submitted at the time by local residents against the expropriation, the Supreme Court accepted the State’s claim that the road was intended primarily for the benefit of the local Palestinian population – the same population which is today prohibited from using the road.
