Since the commencement of the “peace” process marked by the signing of the Declaration of Principles (DOP) in 1993, and especially since the Israeli-Palestinian Interim Agreement on the West Bank and Gaza Strip (referred to as Oslo II) signed in 1995, the Israeli government has embarked upon the construction of an ambitious and unprecedented road network that runs throughout the West Bank.

These roads, known as by-pass roads, were not designed to serve the needs of the local Palestinian population. On the contrary, the roads by-pass Palestinian towns and population centers, and link the various Israeli Jewish-only settlements to one another and to urban centers within Israel.

Ironically enough, the Israeli government has justified the building of by-pass roads under the rubric of advancing the peace process and implementing the Oslo accords. Although there is no explicit mention of by-pass roads in the text of the Agreement, the Israeli government argued that the imposition of the by-pass road network would facilitate the redeployment of the Israeli military from Palestinian towns—a redeployment which had to occur before elections could be held within the Palestinian autonomous areas.

A second rationale for the by-pass roads has to do with the security of the settlers. Since Oslo II conveniently postpones the issue of settlements to the final status talks, the Israelis argued that their security had to be guaranteed during the interim period. The by-pass roads would enable the settlers to travel within the West Bank and to Israel without passing through any areas under the control of the Palestinian Authority, as the roads are built in Area C, the 73% of the West Bank which is still under full Israeli military occupation.

The Israeli military and judicial apparatus has made the seizure of land for by-pass road construction as legally expedient as possible. Under the pretext of “military necessity”—a pretext that insures its immunity from any legal or moral challenge in an Israeli court of law—the IDF commander issues a one-page “Seizure Order.”

Landowners are offered a limited 72-hour period to object to the order. Nearly all objections are rejected, and the Order then immediately takes effect. The Seizure Order supposedly expropriates the land for a temporary period (generally three to five years) during which the landowner is theoretically entitled to payments and compensation. However, the paving of hundreds of kilometers of roads through mostly agricultural land is clearly not temporary. In fact, the Civil Administration has admitted that when these temporary seizure orders expire, they will either be renewed or turned into confiscation orders.

The imposition of this by-pass road network has had disastrous economic and human consequences for the Palestinian people. For each 100 kilometers of road, approximately 10,000 dunams (2,500 acres) of land is confiscated. So far, the Israeli Authority has seized an estimated 30,000 dunams (7,500 acres) of land for this purpose, and it is estimated that the completed network will cover an expanse of 400 kilometers all over the West Bank. The land being seized is some of the area’s richest and most fertile land. The Palestinian people desperately depend on agriculture for their livelihood. Agriculture is the only sector of the Palestinian economy with the potential for independent development. It contributes 20-25% to the gross domestic product and provides employment for 25% of the population. For example, In the Hebron area alone, the destruction of 5,000 dunams (1,250 acres) of vineyards torn down to make way for by-pass Road 60 means an annual loss of 10 million dollars.

Another tragic consequence of the by-pass roads has been the demolition of homes. Since the signing of the Oslo agreements, the Israeli Civil Administration has stepped up the authorization of the demolition of Palestinian homes in Area C. Most of the homes demolished or threatened with demolition are either situated in an area targeted for future settlement expansion, or they are located near the by-pass roads or lie within the path of planned by-pass roads. Hundreds of Palestinians have already lost both their home and their land to the by-pass roads, causing widespread disillusionment with the “peace” process.

The most politically disastrous consequence of the by-pass road network is that it imposes a unilateral political solution on the area. The roads fragment the Palestinian autonomous areas into disjointed enclaves and preempt the expansion of these enclaves or any meaningful territorial contiguity. As such, they are just one more instrument used in furtherance of Israel’s ultimate aim: to impose an Apartheid-like cantonization on the West Bank, to retain as much of the Occupied Territories as possible, and to maintain overall military control of the area.

Israel has demonstrated its commitment to the road network and to the settlements they serve by spending hundreds of millions of dollars so far. At a time when plans are being made to double the settler population in the West Bank, these by-pass roads solidify Israeli control over the territories and ensure the permanence of the illegal Jewish settlements of the West Bank before the final status talks even begin.

• By-Pass Road Construction in the West Bank: The End of the Dream of Palestinian Sovereignty.