Activist organization Peace Now on Sunday published a report maintaining that Israel‘s government is disproportionately investing money in West Bank roads, while neglecting those across Israel.
Amidst a wave of lethal traffic accidents over the past week, Peace Now released a statement saying that "many crashes are caused by poor road conditions, lack of safety precautions and low maintenance, while in the West Bank the investment in the quality of roads continues."
According to the report, at least 6 new roads, some 33 kilometers each, are currently being built to service West Bank settlers. The cost of these projects, according to a Peace Now probe, is at least NIS 315 million. All these roads are being built east of the West Bank separation fence, and serve a very small number of people, the report maintains.
Also in the report, the group maintains that the government invests a minimum of NIS 50,000 per vehicle in the West Bank, not including safety expenditures. The roads are built solely for settlers and are not intended for use by Palestinians.
The organization staged a demonstration on Sunday by a nearly completed road, which is intended to link Jerusalem and four settlements southeast of the city. The construction of the 10-kilometer road, which comprises four lanes and three bridges, is estimated to cost NIS 142 million. However, it is due to service fewer than 500 vehicles.
Following a deadly car accident on the Arava highway in southern Israel last Monday, it was announced that government could not afford the NIS 10 million needed to erect a separation railing on that stretch of road, a railing that could potentially save lives. However, the report continues, the Israel Defense Forces have set up a 41 kilometer separation railing along a road south of Mt. Hebron. The West bank railing serves not as a safety precaution, Peace Now says, but as a means to prevent Palestinian goats and sheep from entering the road.
The High Court of Justice later ruled that the barrier railing was illegal and ordered the IDF to tear it down. According to Peace Now, the cost of erecting and dismantling this railing was approximately NIS 80 million.