What: a Palestinian motorcade on road 443 in protest of its limited opening and continued restrictions on the road's  use.
When: Friday, May 28th, 1 PM
Where: The motorcade will depart from the center of village of Beit Sira (near the Maccabim checkpoint) and proceed to Ramallah through the Beituniya Checkpoint, which is intended to remain closed for Palestinian movement.

This Friday, an Israeli Supreme Court ruling on the illegality of baring Palestinians from accessing Road 443 will come into effect. According to the ruling, Road 443 should be opened to Palestinian movement, allowing villagers access to the road that was built on their lands for the first time in nearly a decade.

When Road 443 was built in the early 1980's, Israel assured the court that the road would be built to serve Palestinians and their transportational needs in accessing Ramallah, and not to connect Israel to East Jerusalem through the West Bank.

The army, however, only intends to very partially open the road, subjecting Palestinians who would like to use it to lengthy searches at the checkpoint positioned at every entrance to it. The army also does not intend to open the Beituniya or Qalandiya checkpoint, in fact rendering 443 a road to nowhere, as it will not provide easier access to Ramallah.

Projected restrictions on Palestinian movement on Road 443. See here for higher resolution

It seems that rather than security, the main concern held by Israeli officials over the opening of the road is a transportational one. Yishay Talor of the Ministry of Transportation said in a January 11th meeting of the Foreign Affairs and  Defense Committee of the Israeli Knesset, that the expected outcome of opening Road 443 to Palestinian cars will be increased traffic jams and a "complete collapse of Road 1" between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.

There are currently 68 km of road in the West Bank that is forbidden for Palestinian use, not including Road 443. Additional 164 km or roads in the Jordan Valley are severely restricted for Palestinian use.