The Security Cabinet decided last night (29/3/25) to allocate NIS 335 million for the construction of a road between Elazariya and A-Za’im, known as the “Fabric of Life Road” or the “Sovereignty Road.” In practice, the construction of the road will create a separate road system for Israelis and Palestinians (an apartheid road), which will allow Israel to close off a vast area in the heart of the West Bank to Palestinians by diverting Palestinian traffic to a special bypass, and to annex the entire Ma’ale Adumim area to Israel and build the E1 plan.
The Security Cabinet decided last night (29/3/25) to allocate NIS 335 million for the construction of a road between Elazariya and A-Za’im, known as the “Fabric of Life Road” or the “Sovereignty Road.” In practice, the construction of the road will create a separate road system for Israelis and Palestinians (an apartheid road), which will allow Israel to close off a vast area in the heart of the West Bank to Palestinians by diverting Palestinian traffic to a special bypass, and to annex the entire Ma’ale Adumim area to Israel and build the E1 plan. For this reason, Defense Minister Naftali Bennett who started the planning of the road called it the “Sovereignty Road” at the time. In the Civil Administration, the road is known as the “Fabric of Life Road” because it is intended to allow Palestinians to maintain a fabric of life after Israel closes off the entire area to them.
In addition, the cabinet decided to allocate 10 million NIS for planning a road from the Bethlehem area to Jericho (known as the “Road 80 Substitute”), which will allow Palestinian movement from the southern West Bank towards Jericho and Jordan after Israel closes the center of the West Bank to Palestinians. It should be noted that this is only an initial stage of preparing plans.
Peace Now: Contrary to official government claims, this road serves no purpose in improving Palestinian transportation. Instead, it is solely aimed at facilitating the annexation of a vast area, approximately 3% of the West Bank, into Israel. The government’s cynicism knows no bounds, as it seeks to construct the road using funds extracted from the fruits of Israeli control over the occupied territories—funds that, by law, are designated for the benefit of the Palestinian population. This development represents a grave setback for Israel as it intends to eliminate the possibility of ending the conflict and a two-state solution.
Background
In March 2020, when Naftali Bennett served as Israel’s Minister of Defense, he approved the promotion of a road for Palestinian-only between the Palestinian towns of Elazariya and a-Za’im. The road is portrayed as a “fabric of life” for Palestinians and is intended to allow Palestinian vehicles to travel from the southern part of the West Bank to the north without passing through the “Ma’ale Adumim settlement bloc.” Currently, Palestinian traffic from the southern part of the West Bank to the north (or vis versa) travels northward from Bethlehem towards Abu Dis and Elazariya, then turns eastward along the Ma’ale Adumim settlement, then northward towards Hizma and from there to Ramallah. Because Palestinians have no other path from north to south, the governments of Israel have abstained from building the planned separation barrier around the “Ma’ale Adumim settlement bloc”. Once the new road will be ready, the government of Israel will be able to divert Palestinian traffic to it, and thus close off the entire region from Palestinian access, effectively annexing the Ma’ale Adumim area (consisting of E1, many other settlements and outposts, as well as large portions of additional Palestinian lands).
Furthermore, the creation of a separate road system for Israelis and Palestinians would allow the security system to close off the Ma’ale Adumim area to Palestinians without building the planned separation barrier there. In practice, this would also allow for the removal of the a-Za’im checkpoint between Ma’ale Adumim and Jerusalem and move it eastward outside the Ma’ale Adumim area (near the Good Samaritan site), east of the Kfar Adumim settlement. Removing the checkpoint would enable continuous movement for Ma’ale Adumim settlers and the surrounding area to Jerusalem without security checks and traffic congestion, and without the feeling that they are living outside the borders of the State of Israel.
The goal: Apartheid and Annexation
In a statement issued by the mayor of Ma’ale Adumim a few years ago, he explicitly and without diplomatic language revealed the true goals of the road: to allow for the closure of a vast area in the center of the West Bank for Palestinians by diverting Palestinians to the road, and thus to make the space an integral part of the State of Israel.
The message from the mayor of Ma’ale Adumim is a good way to meet in explicit and blunt language the policy of separation and apartheid behind the plan, revealing Israel’s true intention to transform the central part of the West Bank from a Palestinian region to an Israeli annexed one, and undermining a future Palestinian State.
“Regarding changes on the ground, the message states that the road “will lead to the closure of the entrance to Elazariya from our city [Ma’ale Adumim], will advance the construction of the security fence between us and Elazariya and will allow for the movement of the a-Za’im checkpoint towards Mishor Adumim”.
The mayor says here that Ma’ale Adumim will be physically separated from the Palestinian territory by a fence, and that there will be no need for the checkpoint currently located between Ma’ale Adumim and Jerusalem to prevent Palestinians from entering Israel. The checkpoint will move eastward so that Ma’ale Adumim residents will not have to pass through a crossing on their way to Jerusalem every day, and Palestinians will be prevented from the space between Jerusalem and Ma’ale Adumim and further east of it.
“This is a separate road for Palestinians in the E1 area whose purpose is to separate the transportation route between the Palestinian and Israeli population in the area, so that Palestinian vehicles can move without passing through Ma’ale Adumim Bloc, near Jewish settlements.”
In other words, the purpose of the road is to separate the Palestinian movement, which will travel on one road, from Israelis and “Jewish settlements”, whom will travel on other roads in a separate space. Palestinians will be prevented access to what is referred to as the “Ma’ale Adumim bloc.”
The message continues and explains the political implications of the road: “In the political sphere, the road will connect Jerusalem and Ma’ale Adumim and enable Jewish settlement construction in the E1 area.”
The impact on Palestinian communities
The construction of the road will have a deadly impact for the future Palestinian State and on the entire area in the heart of the West Bank. Nevertheless, it will also have a fatal and direct impact on Palestinians living near or within the area.
Dozens of Bedouin communities, like al-Khan Al-Ahmar residing within the area will be cut off from the rest of the West Bank, essentially by not having any access road to link them with the rest of the West Bank. This might lead to the displacement of thousands of Palestinians residing today in those communities.
Moreover, the communities of Wadi Jamal and Jabal Al-Baba, located near the planned road, which consist of hundreds of Palestinians, will be cut off from their surroundings due to the construction of the road. It is unknown how they will be able to cross the road and reach their own homes.
Furthermore, the road passes over established houses in the community of A-Saraiya, which is located in Area B. This means that these houses will be demolished. The demolition of the houses, like the entire process, is carried out by virtue of military seizure orders, that allows the Israeli authorities to temporal use of the land for security needs.
Israel’s Plan: Transportational Contiguity in Place of Territorial Contiguity
The new road is intended to allow Palestinians to pass under the route of the separation barrier, and to travel “inside” the Adumim Bloc along a wall without entering the “Israeli” side, as in a kind of tunnel. Once the road is paved, Israel can then claim that construction in E1, and the construction of the barrier around the Adumim bloc does not sever the West Bank because the Palestinians have an alternative transport route. This argument is preposterous. A thin line of road connecting separate territorial sections–transportational contiguity–does not meet the needs for territorial viability for the development and livelihoods of Palestinians in the critical Ramallah-Jerusalem-Bethlehem metropolitan area. Without actual territorial contiguity, an independent Palestinian state cannot be established and prosper, and therefore a two-state solution cannot be reached.
The two-state solution depends on the possibility of establishing a viable Palestinian state alongside Israel. The heart of the future Palestinian state geographically, economically, and culturally is in the metropolis between Ramallah, East Jerusalem and Bethlehem. One of the only potential development areas left for this metropolis are the areas east of Jerusalem, in the same area where Israel seeks to build the E1 settlement and create an Israeli territorial continuum from Jerusalem eastward that would effectively cut the West Bank in half.
See more about the issue in our report and video here.
Bypassing the Planning Process
Officially, the planned road is defined as a “security road”. The excuse for its construction was the intention to build the separation barrier around the Ma’ale Adumim settlement bloc, which is defined as a security need. As a derivative of this, there is a need to build a road that will allow the continuation of the “fabric of life” of the Palestinians travelling from north to south of the West Bank.
By being defined as a security road, it is not brought for planning approval in the Higher Planning Council of the Civil Administration. Subsequently, the public is not given the opportunity to object to it, as in a formal planning process.
Seemingly, this is because the State of Israel has no official authority to plan this road as significant parts of it pass through Area B (see map). According to the 1995 Interim Agreement with the Palestinians, planning authority in Area B is given only to the Palestinian Authority. To bypass this, the Ministry of Defense chose to define the road as a security road. The lands taken for its construction do not go through a process of confiscation for public purposes, but rather a process of military seizure, and therefore the planning process is done behind closed doors.
