Highway 57 (Israel–Palestine)

Highway 57's western Israeli section runs near Netanya's northern boundary, linking the Coastal Highway (Highway 2) with Highway 4 and continuing eastward.[2] Highways 57 and 4 meet at Sharon Junction, also called Beit Lid.[5][6] From there, Highway 57 passes through the center of Kfar Yona and continues toward Tulkarm, a Palestinian city approximately 16 kilometers east of Netanya.[3][2]

East of Tulkarm, the sources describe the route at different geographic and administrative scales. Oslo II identifies Route 57 as the main east–west road crossing Tulkarm and Routes 57 and 60 as the main east–west road crossing Nablus.[4][1] The agreement does not define Highway 57's full modern alignment or endpoints, nor does it assign the entire route to a single Area A, B, or C classification.[4]

Israel Central Bureau of Statistics data for 2016–2018 records Route 57 in segments from the Netanya Interchange to the Netanya industrial-area entrance; from there to Sharon Junction; from Sharon Junction to Yinov Junction; from Yinov Junction to Nitzanei Oz Junction; from Nitzanei Oz Junction to Nitzanei Oz Interchange; from Nitzanei Oz Interchange to Bekaot Junction; and from Bekaot Junction to an unspecified junction.[7] Listed average daily traffic volumes included 46,200 vehicles between Sharon Junction and Yinov Junction and 34,800 between Yinov Junction and Nitzanei Oz Junction.[7]

A Ministry of Education article associates the modern highway with the ancient Derekh Mavo HaShemesh — the "Way of the Sunrise." It describes an eastern route running from the Tirtza Valley through the Yabbok River valley to Adam Pass and presents it as part of a historically important corridor connecting the King's Highway in Jordan, the central hill route, and the coastal Via Maris.[8]

In more recent history, Highway 57 was identified with the Jaffa–Nablus road, which connected Jaffa and its port and the Sharon region with Nablus, with onward connections toward the Jordan Valley.[3] At different periods, the road passed near Qalqilya, south of the settlement.[3] Tulkarm lay at the meeting of this route and the Via Maris, making the city a regional road junction.[3]

The September 28, 1995 Israeli-Palestinian Interim Agreement on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip — Oslo II — identifies Route 57 as “the main east-west road (Route No. 57) crossing Tulkarm” and the Nablus corridor as “the main east-west road (Route Nos. 57 and 60) crossing Nablus.”[4][1] These roads were placed within the agreement's framework for joint Israeli-Palestinian security operations.

Under the protocol, joint patrols on the listed roads were to begin after the completion of Israeli redeployment in each relevant district. Each District Coordination Office could decide within three months of redeployment whether joint patrols would operate on roads crossing Areas A, B, and C.[4] The agreement located the District Coordination Office for the Nablus District at Hawara Junction and the office for the Tulkarm District at Kaddouri Junction.[1]

Unless otherwise decided, each joint patrol consisted of two four-wheel-drive vehicles, one Palestinian and one Israeli, each carrying an officer and three uniformed and armed guards.[1] Patrols operated 24 hours a day under the direction of the relevant District Coordination Office, monitoring movement, responding to incidents threatening road users, assisting at incident scenes, and reporting to Israeli military and Palestinian police district headquarters.[1] Their stated mission was to assist in ensuring free, unimpeded, and secure movement along the designated roads.[1]

On January 22, 1995, two suicide bombers detonated explosives near a busy soldiers' welfare station at Sharon Junction, or Beit Lid, killing 22 people.[5] The official Israeli memorial commemorating the victims of the terrorist attack is approximately 500 meters east of Sharon Junction, on the southern side of Highway 57.[5] The attack occurred eight months before Oslo II was signed on September 28, 1995.[4][5]

Between 2016 and 2018, Central Bureau of Statistics data recorded 24 accidents on the Sharon Junction–Yinov Junction section, including two classified as serious or fatal. The Yinov Junction–Nitzanei Oz Junction section had 26 accidents, including five classified as serious or fatal, while nine accidents were recorded between Nitzanei Oz Junction and Nitzanei Oz Interchange, including two serious or fatal accidents.[7]

A serious collision near Kfar Yona in 2004 killed three people and injured 47, many of them children. The crash involved a school bus, a commercial vehicle, and a military jeep; the bus overturned after colliding with the jeep while road-expansion work was underway at Kfar Yona Junction.[9] In a separate 2013 proceeding, the Kfar Yona Local Council argued that Highway 57's passage through the town endangered residents and petitioned for construction of a bypass.[2]

A comprehensive infrastructure project proposed upgrading Highways 4 and 57, constructing a new road north of Kfar Yona to relieve the town center, building a new Sharon Interchange above Highway 4 north of the existing Sharon Junction, and creating interchanges at Yinov, Kfar Yona, and Beit Yitzhak.[6] Additional elements included a grade separation at Beit Lid, pedestrian bridges near Ruppin Junction and Ilanot Forest, dedicated public-transport lanes, and bicycle paths.[6] The project was intended to improve transportation across the Sharon region and connect the Netanya area with Highway 6.[6] In 2021, the Ministry of Transport estimated its cost at approximately NIS 2.4 billion, while noting that the execution budget had not yet been approved.[6]

In 2013, the Kfar Yona Local Council petitioned the Supreme Court against the Transport and Interior ministries, the National Roads Company, and the police. The council argued that the existing highway endangered residents and that a bypass had previously been promised.[2] The court rejected the petition, accepting the state's position that planning procedures remained incomplete and that the government commitment represented general policy rather than an enforceable administrative promise.[2]