Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu and his transportation minister Yisrael Katz on Tuesday inaugurated a bypass on Highway 55 around the occupied West Bank village of Nabi Ilyas east of Qalqilya city.
According to Israel’s Channel 7 the new road will connect the settlements in the area and central Israel (1948 occupied lands) with each other.
The channel quoted Katz as saying that this road was part of the government’s plan to develop infrastructure for the safety and well-being of settlers.
In a related context the Israeli occupation forces on the same day blocked the entrances to all eastern villages and towns located along the Qalqilya-Nablus road and the eastern entrance to the district of Qalqilya.
The IOF set up makeshift checkpoints at all entrances and obstructed the movement of Palestinian citizens and vehicles.
The reason for such road closures was Netanyahu’s inauguration of that new bypass for Israeli settlers which was built on an annexed tract of land belonging to the Palestinian villages of Nabi Ilyas and Izbat al-Tabib.
