HIGHWAY 443 FULFILLS AN ISRAELI NATIONAL DREAM:
TO MAKE PALESTINIANS INVISIBLE IN THEIR OWN LAND
First Israel expropriated Palestinian land in the West Bank and paved Highway 443. Then it prevented the "local population" from using the road. And then Israel built a wall with drawings of creeks and meadows on it so that Israelis can't see and don't know that they are driving on an apartheid road.
‘Apartheid?’ many will say, indignantly. ‘What are you talking about?’
How many of the masses of Israeli travellers on this highway to the capital have looked to their left and right? How many of them have noticed the 12 roads blocked by iron roadblocks and piles of garbage? And, by the way, is there any other country that blocks roads with garbage? And what about the 22 Palestinian villages that are confined and concealed alongside the road?
How many Israelis have asked themselves how it is possible that a road that was paved in the heart of the Land of Palestine has no Palestinians traveling on it? How many Israelis have noticed the sign that leads to the "Ofer [army] camp", another whitewashed name for a detention facility where hundreds of Palestinian prisoners are detained, some without trial? How many have observed the "local inhabitants" trudging over the rocky ground to get to the neighbouring villages?
This highway is 28 kilometres of distilled apartheid: Israeli Jews on top on the freeway, becoming of the lords of the land. Palestinians down below, going on foot, to the Al-Tira village girls' school, for example, through a dark, moldy tunnel.
The Israeli High Court has ruled against the exclusive use of Highway 443 by Israeli Jews. However, Justices Dorit Beinisch and Uzi Vogelman have imposed a delay of five months on the implementation of the court’s ruling.
So, five months from now, will we finally see Palestinian cars on Highway 443?
Don’t make me - and the Israeli army - laugh!
Adapted from the article "28 kilometres of distilled apartheid", written by Israeli journalist Gideon Levy
and published in the Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz on Dec. 30, 2009.
See full text on line at : http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1138665.html
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