Roads that Cut Off Jerusalem
Date
2025-01
Authors
Samir Jaber
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Al-Quds University
Abstract
The construction of roads in Jerusalem serves a dual purpose: to connect Israeli colonial settlements and to isolate Arab Palestinian neighborhoods, transforming them into open enclaves encircled by Israeli thoroughfares. The Israeli roads that traverse these Palestinian communities further marginalize them, linking them to the Israeli road network through narrow openings.
To pave these colonial routes, Israeli authorities confiscate Palestinian lands, justifying their actions by claiming that these roads serve the “public interest.” Meanwhile, Palestinians submit petitions to the colonial judicial authority challenging this road policy, which cloaks land confiscation in the guise of public benefit; however, their efforts yield little success.
Recently, Israel has overtly embraced racial profiling to delineate which roads are accessible to Palestinians and which are reserved solely for Israelis. The era of explicit apartheid roads commenced with the opening of Route 4370, which allocates one lane for Palestinian use and another exclusively for Israelis. Furthermore, new roads designed specifically for Palestinian access are pending construction. These roads aim to prevent Palestinians from using the routes favored by the colonial settlers surrounding Jerusalem.
By constructing these Israeli roads, Israel accentuates its status as a complete apartheid state. The separation of roads relies on racial justifications that resist geopolitical rationalizations, thereby reinforcing the grim reality of settler colonialism that permeates Jerusalem and the broader region of Palestine.