A day after the serious accident on road 60 in Benjamin in which the boy Matan Zinman was killed and shortly after he was buried in the Jerusalem cemetery, the residents of Benjamin together with the regional council of Benjamin and the head of the council Israel Gantz went to the intersections on road 60 in protest of the situation. The residents of Beit El and the head of the Beit El Council Shai Alon as well as the residents of Gush Etzion and Samaria also participated in the protest.
The residents carried signs in protest of what they call: “lawlessness and roulette on the roads” that stems from a lack of enforcement against Palestinian drivers and the state of Israel’s laxity in handling the road infrastructure in Judea and Samaria.
The head of Binyamin Council, Israel Gantz: “The serious accident yesterday shocked everyone and now we need to take action.” Gantz demanded from the Prime Minister and the ministers an immediate gathering of the authorities in order to launch an emergency plan for enforcement on the Judea and Samaria roads, and at the same time promote the doubling of Route 60, which is the main traffic artery in the Judea and Samaria and is used by Jews and Arabs.
The government must start with an ’emergency enforcement plan’ that includes a thorough treatment of lawlessness on the roads by Arab drivers. It cannot be that half a million reports of Arab drivers are not enforced and unpaid. It cannot be that a huge number of vehicles should go off the road and they continue to drive and kill.”
Israel Gantz also stated the need for, in his words, “promoting the development and doubling of Highway 60. It is possible to solve this and begin the construction of the road within a year. The government needs to make a decision. Either develop the road immediately or, God forbid, continue to pay a bloody price.”
The protest took place at a number of intersections, including the Ma’amash intersection, the Givat Assaf intersection, the Ofra intersection, the Shiloh intersection, and the Ma’ale Lavona North intersection. The Binyamin Council says that the struggle to regulate the issue of enforcement and road development has only just begun.