FROM ISREAL TODAY

US embassy staff told to avoid road opened to Palestinians

Further demonstrating the ludicrous nature of international pressure for Israel to prematurely ease security measures against the Palestinians, the US Embassy in Tel Aviv this week told its staff to avoid using a highway connecting Jerusalem to Tel Aviv at night after it was recently reopened to Palestinian traffic.

Highway 443 was the scene of numerous murderous roadside attacks up until 2002, when Israeli security forces finally banned all Palestinian traffic on the road.

Earlier this year, left-wing Israeli activists playing off American pressure for Israel to ease the living conditions of Palestinian Arabs, successfully petitioned Israel's Supreme Court to reopen the road to Palestinian traffic. They argued that the ban constituted unfair collective punishment.

Israelis that use the road regularly argue that it is unfair for their lives to be put at risk just so Palestinians can reach their jobs or homes a few minutes faster.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's security detail has also forbidden him to use the highway in light of the Supreme Court ruling, which was implemented earlier this month. During the few weeks since the road was reopened to Palestinian traffic there have been several stone-throwing attacks against Israeli motorists.