On the eve of the Shavuot holiday, Sharon Rosenbluth’s daughter left herself ample time to get from her mom’s house in Karnei Shomron to her own home in Bet Shemesh. But as soon as she exited onto Route 55, she ended up in traffic.
The drive from Karnei Shomron to the checkpoint in Alfe Menashe usually takes 10 minutes. Lately, especially on weekends, it can take up to an hour.
It appears that the backup is caused by an influx of Arabs visiting relatives and shopping in the Area A city. Under the Oslo Accords, Area A is under the administrative and police control of the Palestinian Authority.
Many are Israeli Arabs (The prices are allegedly much lower than in Israeli Arab towns), and entry into the Palestinian city of Qalqilya is prohibited to Israeli citizens.
In 2024, Amnon Muchtar, a 67-year-old Israeli man from Petah Tikva, was shot and killed in Qalqilya on June 22, 2024, while purchasing produce for his vegetable stall. Two months later, another Jewish Israeli man was shot and seriously wounded near a car repair shop in the same Palestinian Authority-controlled city.
On June 3, in an attempt to prevent the next disaster, Karnei Shomron Mayor Yonatan Kuznitz “moved his office” to the roadside of Route 55 (also called Highway 55), near the entrance to Qalqilya.
“The next attack is around the corner. It’s time to stop and enforce the illegal entry of Israeli citizens into Palestinian villages in Area A,” he announced in a Facebook notification.
He explained the move in an interview with JNS. “I moved my office here, on Highway 55 near the entrance to Qalqilya, a central location where crowds of Israeli citizens come every weekend for shopping trips and family visits, to put an end to a phenomenon that endangers the residents of the area and threatens all Israeli citizens. It’s time to stop this now.”
Like many other places in Samaria, large signs declare the prohibition against Israeli citizens entering Area A Arab towns such as Qalqilya.
“Failure to enforce the law that prohibits Israelis from entering Area A could lead to the next attack, which I want to prevent,” Kuznitz clarified.
He noted that “the massive entry of Israeli citizens into Palestinian villages every weekend leads to enormous congestion at the crossings, which creates huge traffic jams without any security on the roads. Vehicles stand in traffic jams for hours, in a threatening and intimidating environment. Standing on the road for hours without security is fertile ground for the next attack, God forbid.”
Kuznitz said that ultimately, the IDF is responsible for enforcing the prohibition of the entry of Israelis into Area A.
“The time has come to change the military directive on the subject, a decision that must be made at the highest levels in the army,” he said. “We must understand that this problem creates immediate dangers for the residents of the entire central Samaria region. I call on the most senior officials in the IDF to change their approach and not allow Israelis to enter Area A, which is against the law.”
Rosenbluth noted that the road problems have been building for years, but were slightly relieved post-Oct. 7, 2023, after shutdowns in Arab towns such as Qalqilya and Azzun. She said that Alfe Menashe, the neighborhood that abuts the Green Line before the checkpoints, only has one way in and out onto Highway 55.
“Zufim also has a checkpoint,” she pointed out, referring to a Jewish community north of Alfei Menashe and Qalqilya. “But both the residents and the army are very strict in who they let in and out. I think that’s actually a good thing, although it contributes to the traffic.”
In 2017 the Ministry of Transportation began a project to double the length of the road going down from the Jit Junction on Route 55 to the point where 55 merges into Route 444. Since then, a bypass road was built around the town of Nabi Elias (where the prophet Elisha is buried).
“We had to dodge donkey-driven wagons and small children on a narrow commercial strip,” explained a Samaria resident who said the bypass road had made life easier. “It was treacherous for us and for them. This is much better, although it should be better policed. There have been carjackings on the bypass road.”
Another bypass route was created in Huwara and another is under construction on Route 55 in the town of Funduq, where three people were killed in a bus shooting and eight were injured in January of 2025. Bypass roads do not restrict Arab drivers, but reroute traffic away from busy pedestrian-filled main thoroughfares.
As Kuznitz explained, in Samaria, where the roads are shared, traffic can create security problems. The almost daily traffic jams leading to Qalqilya frequently cause standstill traffic on Route 55 in both directions.
An IDF spokesman declined to comment on the situation, although he confirmed that the law against entering Arab villages in Area A applies to all Israeli citizens, not only Jews. When asked why, then, Arab-Israeli citizens are being permitted to enter Area A cities, JNS was referred to the Civil Administration spokesperson. Upon contacting the Civil Administration, however, JNS was referred back to the army.
This, according to Kuznitz, is the problem. “This situation creates a severe security threat. The next terror attack could be just around the corner, and my responsibility as mayor is to prevent that by all means available to me. I call upon the IDF and security authorities to strictly enforce the ban on entry into Area A,” he said.
Kuznitz concluded with a heartfelt appeal. “Effective enforcement is not only a matter of law; it is a matter of life and death. We must act now to protect our residents and prevent a tragedy before it happens.”