Route 463 extends about 10km from el-Bireh and the Jalazone refugee camp in the east to Ein Qiniya in the west. It was originally built in the mid-1990s to connect the Beit El and Dolev settlements. After the Second Intifada in 2000, both settlers and Palestinians were barred from using it.
A 1.075-billion-shekel ($355m) settler infrastructure budget, aimed at connecting settlements in the occupied West Bank, underpins the reopening. While no timeline has been set, the far-right Israeli government is pushing for implementation before the October 27 elections, bypassing the Knesset to speed up the process.
Palestinian groups have condemned the plan. The Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission, affiliated with the Palestine Liberation Organization, said the plan fits a “systematic policy to dismantle Palestinian geographic and demographic contiguity.”" Jamal Juma, coordinator of the Popular Campaign to Resist the Wall and Settlements, said the reopening would completely encircle the western side of Ramallah.
The affected area includes the villages of Surda, at-Tira, Wadi at-Tira, Ein Qiniya, Ras Karkar, Ein Arik, and Safa, as well as Beitunia and the Fruits Roundabout area. If reopened, tens of thousands of Palestinians would be forced onto an old congested road near the Jalazone camp, unable to handle increased traffic. Ramallah, the administrative capital of Palestine, has already faced previous road closures to the east, pushing urban expansion westwards.