Peaceful protest Against Apartheid Road 443 in Occupied West Bank Violently Disrupted by IDF

[Tom Joad]

A non-violent demonstration against the Apartheid system enforced by Israel on Road 443, a road accessible for Israelis only which cuts into Palestinian territory, took place at the village of Kharbatha Al-Mesbah in the West Bank yesterday.

Three hundred peaceful demonstrators - Palestinians, Israelis and internationals together - were violently repressed by the Israeli military. Seven people were injured and an ambulance was repeatedly shot at by Israeli soldiers, despite bearing clear Red Cross and Red Crescent markings.


Dr Mustafa Barghouthi MP, Secretary General of the Palestinian National Initiative denounced the violence of the Israeli soldiers, who shot tear gas, sound grenades and rubber coated metal bullets at the peaceful crowd. He explained that “road 443 is a symbol of the Israeli Apartheid imposed on the occupied territories. It is a road for Israelis only, cutting into Palestine and tearing apart Palestinian communities.”

Dr Bagrhouthi called for wide-scale non-violent actions against the Israeli occupation and for increased international solidarity with Palestinians in their struggle for national liberation.

http://www.palestinemonitor.org/spip/spip.php?article233
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More info on the Apartheid Road from a leading Israeli human rights organization:
http://www.btselem.org/english/Freedom_of_Movement/20070925_Road_443.asp

Route 443, which links Jerusalem and the Tel Aviv area, used to be a major Palestinian traffic artery in the southern Ramallah District and was the main thoroughfare between Ramallah and the Palestinian villages lying southwest of the city. Prior to the second intifada, which broke out in September 2000, Israel widened the road – requisitioning private Palestinian property in the process – into a four-lane highway. Israel contended that the land was taken to meet the needs of the local population and promised that the local villagers would be allowed to use it.

Despite the promise, in 2002, Israel prohibited Palestinians to travel by car or foot on the fourteen kilometers of the roadway that lie in the West Bank . The prohibition also applied in emergency medical cases and to the transport of goods for the surrounding Palestinian villages. Palestinians were left with a one-lane road connecting the villages to the road to Ramallah and for travel between the villages. This alternate road was worn and winding and passed through a tunnel under Route 443. It was much longer than the original road and served all the 35,000 residents of the villages lying on either side of the road.

The prohibition on Palestinian travel on Route 443 was never authorized by military order or by any other legal means. It was effectively implemented by physical obstructions – iron gates, concrete blocks, and/or checkpoints and later by army patrols, which stopped and punished Palestinians caught driving or walking along the road, to make it clear to Palestinians that they were not allowed to use the road.