The Ministry of Transportation and the occupation municipality in Jerusalem announced that they had completed the expansion of Route 60 (the tunnel road south of occupied Jerusalem) to connect the city to the settlements in the south of the West Bank.

Khalil Al-Tafakji, a settlement and land expert, told Al-Quds.com that last Wednesday, the occupation authorities completed expanding the tunnels in southern Jerusalem as part of the Israeli strategic plan to establish “Greater Jerusalem,” by building a network of tunnels, roads, and infrastructure to swallow thousands of dunams, to expand the settlement blocs, especially the bloc. "Gush Etzion", which includes 14 Israeli colonies, swallows up more than 10% of the area of the West Bank.

He added: "The occupation authorities are working with this complex network of infrastructure, to connect all these settlements to West Jerusalem in the largest process of annexation of the lands of the southern West Bank, and to increase the number of settlers in this settlement bloc without announcement or noise. The announcement talks about the 60th Street tunnels, which extend from North of the city to the south of the West Bank until the outskirts of Hebron.

He explained: “The talk is about components and parts of a strategy that was divided into small projects, to be implemented simultaneously and quickly in a process of racing against time, and exploiting the war on Gaza to annex most of Area C in the south, to connect Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Hebron, or the solid settlement bloc of the right.” The extreme is where the "Madi'in Illit" colony is considered the largest of the colonies in this bloc, which connects "Bitar Illit", which includes about 60,000 settlers.

He stressed that the second plan talks about expanding these 14 colonies to accommodate 100,000 settlers until the year 2028.

He pointed out that expanding these settlements and linking them with tunnels in the south, while 4 tunnels are being built in the Shuafat area and linking them to the settlements north of Jerusalem and the “Al-Za’im” area and from there to the American Street on the lands of Sur Baher south-east of occupied Jerusalem, through a series of tunnels and bridges that facilitate the movement of settlers. From the south, north and east of the West Bank towards Greater Jerusalem according to the expansionist Israeli concept.

Al-Tufakji stated that the extremist Netanyahu government is working to draw up a settlement fait accompli that prevents any division of Jerusalem and to undermine the idea of a two-state solution on the ground, with solid settlement construction that consolidates annexation, Judaization, and settlement.

He said: “There are 6 settlement projects that aim to achieve the same goal by expanding the (Gilo) settlement, linked to this strategic road No. 60, including the construction of 3,500 settlement units.

He added: "Netanyahu-Smotrich's alliance included broad lines, including that Jerusalem is neither divisible nor a Palestinian state," and what is happening now is exploiting the war on Gaza by Judaizing Jerusalem and swallowing the West Bank to undermine the project of a Palestinian state and impose a fait accompli that is consistent with the religious Zionist vision.

He pointed out that settlement Road 60 was established in 1993 and extends from Nazareth in the north and ends in Beersheba in the south, and on its way penetrates all the occupied Palestinian territories in the West Bank and Jerusalem from north to south.

He said that Route 60 is a “passing and linking” street because it crosses all areas of the West Bank from north to south, and a “link” because it connects the settlement blocs with many of the main and secondary roads used by Palestinians and Israelis, meaning approximately 181 main and secondary roads, connected to this street and penetrating all Areas of the West Bank except Area A of the Palestinian Authority.

He stressed that this street is an introduction to the process of consolidating the reality of separating the road network for settlers in the occupied territories from the Palestinian road network and for the Judaization of the Palestinian areas, and it has reached its final stage to separate the Palestinians from the Israelis.

Al-Tufakji explained that this street robbed thousands of dunums of agricultural land from Bethlehem, specifically the areas of Al-Makhrour in Beit Jala, Al-Baqi in Al-Khader, the monastery lands, and others. He seized their lands and renamed them with Jewish names to abolish the Palestinian presence and Judaize them, as these roads were traditional historical Palestinians.

Occupation municipality 
According to the occupation municipality, about one billion shekels were invested in the project to double the tunnel route on Route 60. After 6 years of work and about eight months before the planned date, it was opened to full traffic. It included developing the existing tunnels, adding two new tunnels, and constructing a new bridge parallel to the bridge. Al-Qaim.

The renovated road includes two tunnels, each about 900 meters long, in the southern section (towards Jerusalem), and two tunnels, each about 300 meters long, in the northern section. In the direction of Gush Etzion), with two travel lanes, the tunnels are connected by two bridges about 360 meters long with two lanes. In addition to the construction of the new tunnels, the old tunnels and the existing bridge were also modernized.

The occupation municipality’s announcement stated: “The road development project was implemented within a joint project between the Ministry of Transportation and the Jerusalem Municipality and was implemented by the Moria Municipality Company, which will significantly reduce traffic congestion in the area.”

Transportation Minister Miri Regev said: “This is a huge project to develop and expand the tunnel road, which opens the southern entrance gate to Jerusalem, and connects it to the settlements of Gush Etzion, Kiryat Arba, Efrat, Beitar Illit, and Hebron.” Regev: “This is a project of strategic and transportation importance.”