Binyamin council head Yisrael Gantz met with senior officials from the IDF's Central Command Tuesday as part of the Binyamin Council's efforts to demand the security establishment act to ease the problem of traffic congestion in its area.
Council head Gantz, who arrived with his deputy Raphael Engel, expressed his displeasure to the senior officials about the lack of progress on the matter and at the fact that the traffic jams at the crossings are getting worse.
"This is not just a traffic jam, but a huge hazard that violates our civil rights. The Ministry of Defense abuses our residents. It increases and increases the number of workers entering the Green Line to work, but provides zero solutions. Defense Minister Benny Gantz wants to forge ties with Abbas, so he brings in tens of thousands of workers without an infrastructural solution [for the additional traffic] and as far as he is concerned the Jewish residents should be the ones who pay the price. I am not ready to accept that," Gantz said.
He added, "We are in regular contact with the officers in the field, and in the last few months there have been isolated successes, but the problem is systemic and difficult, and therefore requires systemic solutions that the Ministry of Defense should take the lead on here. There is a desire of the higher-ups here to help, but desire is not enough."
Gantz explained that Binyamin Region's strategic road development plans are progressing and will provide good solutions in the future, but according to him the Binyamin council's unequivocal demand is that the State take steps on the ground to prevent the hazards and that the government ministries take responsibility for ensuring those steps are taken.
"We will not allow it to continue like this. We will not be silent until the Minister of Defense and the security system can be 'bothered' to find solutions, the earlier the better," he said.
The focal point of the conversation with the officers in the Central Command was the traffic congestion in western Binyamin at the Hasmonean and Rantis crossings on Route 446. They discussed solutions for the Hapoalim crossings and other issues,