Major General Yehuda Fox, commander of the IDF's Central Command, has issued an order allowing limits to be placed on the entrance of Palestinian Authority Arab vehicles into the area around the al-Za'im checkpoint near Maaleh Adumim.
The checkpoint was the site of a Thursday morning shooting attack that left Matan Elmaliah (26) dead, and several others injured. Among the injured are Adi Zohar (30), a pregnant woman who is listed in serious condition; and Hanania Ben Shimon (23), who was discharged from reservist service in the Gaza Strip last week, charged one of the terrorists and was moderately injured.
Fox issued the order at the request of Judea and Samaria police chief Uzi Levy, and the order is valid for 14 days.
Colonel Roi Zweig-Lavi, the Central Command's Operations Directorate officer, noted in a letter that after two weeks, the police and IDF will hold a situational assessment to examine whether to extend the road's closure to Palestinian Authority vehicles.
"During this time period, in cooperation between the Central Command and Israel Police, we will examine the advantages of the situation and its disadvantages, and afterwards make a decision regarding the future," he wrote.
"The effects of creating a blockade to prevent residents of the area from traveling on Route 1, on the residents of Maaleh Adumim, and the traffic jams which will be created as a result of this; the significance of the traffic jams which will be created on Route 437 and at the Mishor Adumim Junction; the significance of the traffic jams on the Hizma Junction which serves as a central entrance point in this area, from Jerusalem to the Judea and Samaria area and in the opposite direction (including and especially the residents of the Binyamin Region and Jordan Valley); the security impact on the movement of the residents along Highway 1, as they travel from west to east (from al-Za'im to Maaleh Adumim)."
The IDF has also suggested that police increase patrols and forces in the area "for the purpose of creating security and a feeling of security and deterrence."