Route 443 (Israel).html


Highway 443
Hebrew name	מעלה בית חורון (Ma'ale Beit Horon)
Name meaning	Ascent of Bethoron
Length	28 km
Direction	West - East
Classification	Expressway
Start	Lod (Ginaton Junction)
Primary destinations	Modi'in-Maccabim-Re'ut Modi'in Illit Giv'at Ze'ev
End	Highway 45/Begin Expressway to Jerusalem
Major junctions	Ginaton Junction Ben Shemen Interchange Shilat Junction Beit Horon Interchange Giv'at Ze'ev Junction

Route 443 between Modi'in and Jerusalem

Route 443 (Hebrew: כביש 443, מעלה בית חורון‎), also Ma'ale Beit Horon (ascent of Beth-Horon), is the main highway connecting Modi'in with Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, and also serves as a secondary connection between the Tel Aviv area and Jerusalem. While technically listed as a regional road, it is for the most part a divided, four-lane highway which utilises some grade separation and interchanges, as well as major at-grade intersections, and thus is not classified as a motorway, even though there is a short motorway section on its western end, connecting it to westbound Highway 1.

The highway departs Highway 1 and Highway 6 at Ben Shemen interchange, and continues eastwards to Shilat junction, which serves as the entrance for the Modi'in area. It continues east into the West Bank in the Matte Binyamin Regional Council, near Ramallah, where it becomes Jerusalem's Begin Expressway via the newly designated Highway 45. A spur, road 436, links it with Giv'at Ze'ev and the Jerusalem neighbourhood of Ramot.

Some of the access roads connecting Palestinian villages with Route 443 in the West Bank portion have been closed since the September 2000 outbreak of the Second Intifada.¹ Frequent fire bomb attacks and fatal shootings on Israeli traffic saw the erection of anti-sniper barricades on parts of the highway adjacent to Palestinian populated areas.²³⁴⁵ In a March 2008 ruling, the Israel's Supreme Court upheld for six more months the IDF's right to limit Palestinian traffic to prevent attacks, challenged by the Association for Civil Rights in Israel.⁶⁷ The Israeli Human Rights Group B'Tselem has also criticized the closure of route 443 for Palestinians as an example of Collective punishment, which is illegal under International law. As of October 2008, the case is still pending. ⁸

The road was the site of many battles in antiquity due to its unique geography, most famously part of the biblical story of Joshua, and the combat between the Macabees and the Seleucid Empire. As opposed to the modern Highway 1, which twists and turns in gullies on its route from the coastal plain to the Judean hills, the central portion of Highway 443 ascends along a ridgeline, and thus maintains a relatively stable grade.

See also: Beth-horon#Pass of the Bethorons

Interchanges & junctions (West to East)

km	Name	Meaning	Location	Road(s) Crossed
0	צומת גינתון (Ginaton Junction)	Named after location	Ginaton, Lod	(Highway 40)
3	מחלף בן שמן (Ben Shemen Interchange)	Named after location	Ben Shemen	(Highway 1, Highway 6, Route 444)
3	צומת מודיעים (Modi'im Junction)	Named after Modi'in	Neot Kedumim	local road
			"Tombs of the Maccabees"	local road
8.7			entrance to Mevo Modi'im	local road
10.2	צומת מכבים (Maccabim Junction)	_{Named after Maccabees}	entrance to Modi'in	Road 4466
12.8	צומת שילת (Shilat Junction)	_{Named after Shilat}	Modi'in-Maccabim-Re'ut, Modi'in Illit	(Route 446), Hashmonaim blvd.
13	צומת מכבים-רעות (Maccabim-Re'ut Junction)	_{Named after place}	Maccabim-Re'ut	Yair Peleg Road
14.3	צומת בית חורון (Beit Horon Junction)	_{Named after nearby Bethoron}	Maccabim-Re'ut	(Highway 3) blocked, Route 455
23.4	מחלף בית חורון (Beit Horon Interchange)	_{Named after place}	Beit Horon	local road
28.3	צומת גבעת זאב (Giv'at Ze'ev Junction)	_{Named after place}	Giv'at Ze'ev, Jerusalem	(Begin Expressway) _{via Highway 45}