Following the Supreme Court decision compelling the IDF to accommodate Arab motorists on Highway 443, the Jerusalem-Modi’in Highway, IDF commanders have been preparing to accommodate the court order, studying the realities of providing protection on the major vehicular artery that will now serve Israelis and PA drivers alike.

According to officials in the IDF’s Central Command, responsible for the area of the highway, some 3,000 PA motorists are expected to use the highway daily. The new reality is to take effect in May, after the court-ordered prepatory period expires.

Experts warn this is considerably more than first expected, when traffic officials and engineers warned that the increase in traffic and safety consideration will push many Israeli motorists to the Jerusalem-Tel Aviv Highway (Highway 1), which simply is not built to handle the load, warning it will lead to unprecedented delays and collapse of the vehicular route.

The warnings from security and other experts apparently are not meritorious enough for the champions of human rights, the justices of the Supreme Court, who opted to ignore dire IDF concerns and warnings, based on fatal shooting attacks on the road which prompted the ban of PA motorists in 2000.

Just last week there was a shooting attack, which B’chasdei Hashem did not result in fatalities or injuries, but many feel it was a just a warning and taste of what be the new reality come May chas v’sholom.

There are calls for the High Court of Justice to rehear the case with a more expanded panel of justices but at present, this does not seem to be a reality.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)