Israeli authorities aim to start construction of a road to bypass the hostile Samaria village of Al-Funduq in the coming weeks, the Samaria Regional Council said on Thursday.
The first phase of the project, estimated to cost a total of 200 million shekels ($55 million), includes the western section of the road towards the city of Karnei Shomron and the establishment of an intersection with traffic lights between the Al-Funduq and Immanuel junctions.
The military order that paves the way for the road was signed following requests by Samaria Regional Council head Yossi Dagan, Minister of Transport, National Infrastructure and Road Safety Miri Regev, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.
“The Al-Funduq bypass road is part of the revolution of bypass roads in Samaria,” Dagan explained in a statement. “The Huwara bypass, the Al-Lubban bypass, the Al-Arub bypass, and now here in Al-Funduq. This is a major route through which hundreds of thousands pass every week, and this road will significantly improve security and the quality of life.
“Our answer to heinous terrorism is the building of the land,” the local leader continued. “We will strengthen security here on this road, we will continue to develop the settlement [of Judea and Samaria], and with God’s help, together we will reach a million residents in Samaria.”
The new road around Al-Funduq was approved by the Israel Defense Forces as part of the “lessons learned” after the Feb. 26, 2023, terrorist murder of brothers Hallel and Yagel Yaniv in a shooting attack on the part of Route 60 that passed through the Samaria village of Huwara, near Nablus.
On the night of the attack, Maj. Gen. Yehuda Fox, the then-head of IDF Central Command, reportedly granted the Samaria Regional Council’s request to carve out a dirt road upon which the bypass would be based.
In October 2022, a terrorist from Al-Funduq stabbed Kedumim resident Shalom Sofer, 55, as he exited a store in the adjacent Palestinian town. Sofer succumbed to the wounds sustained in the attack on Nov. 8, 2022.
Eighteen years ago, Ido Zoldan, 29, from Shavei Shomron, was murdered when Arab terrorists opened fire at him from a passing car in Al-Funduq.
