The decline in scope over the past year aligns with a decrease in building construction, likely due to an unprecedented economic downturn in the Palestinian Authority and an increased military presence amid the war. The next measurement will serve as a test—whether this reflects a trend shift due to changes in enforcement policy or merely a temporary halt.
The mapping was conducted using comparisons of aerial photographs and analysis with advanced software, revealing a troubling picture of an extensive road network used exclusively by Arabs, granting them full control over vast swathes of land in Judea and Samaria near the seam line. Aerial photographs further illustrate the method: first, a road is paved from a village in Area A into the open territory under Israeli control, and in the subsequent months and years, dozens of structures are built around it, effectively creating a de facto settlement continuum.
Israel Gantz, head of the Binyamin Regional Council and chairman of the Yesha Council, responded: "In the past two years, the government has taken giant steps to protect Judea and Samaria and has begun important enforcement against illegal construction by the Palestinian Authority. However, the Authority’s takeover plan, in collaboration with European governments, has not stopped. They are trying every way to establish facts on the ground. The military must internalize that paving an illegal road is a security failure. The government needs to instruct the IDF to combat this takeover phenomenon as part of the war against Arab terror and Iran’s attempt to establish a foothold in Judea and Samaria."
Moshe Shmueli, Judea and Samaria coordinator for the Regavim movement, said: "All roads lead to… a Palestinian state! These roads are the infrastructure for establishing a state, the grand project of the Palestinian Authority with assistance from the European Union. No less severe, these roads are terror infrastructure and should be treated like the tunnel threat. Unlike illegal construction—which can theoretically be demolished and the situation rectified—paving a road is irreversible. Even if it’s blocked with an earth mound or the route is severed, it’s only disrupted. Therefore, the focus here must be on prevention and effective deterrence, including a change in enforcement policy regarding these routes: redefining priorities and hitting them where it hurts financially—confiscating engineering equipment, seizing tools, and imposing heavy fines. These astronomical numbers must lead to an awakening and change."
Channel 14 contributed to this article.
