Highway 57 (Israel) - Central Portion of The Route

Central Portion of The Route

The second portion of the route, from Tulkarm via Nablus to Beka'ot junction, is a continuous road with one carriageway. In the first part from Tulkarm until Einav junction it is open only to Palestinian traffic, and it connects Tulkarm and surrounding villages to Nur a-Shams and Anabta, and from there to Nablus. This road roughly follows the path of Nahal Shekhem (Nahal means creek).

Apparently the road previously passed through the center of the city of Tulkarm, but today it passes through the northern part of the city. This portion of the route served as part of the primary route connecting northern and central Israel before the construction of Highway 4. This old route went from Haifa south via Jenin, Tulkarm and Qalqilya to Tel Aviv.

For this part of the present-day route there is a bypass road designated for Israeli traffic that was constructed after the Oslo Accords, Route 557. It bypasses the region from the south, and passes next to the communities of Qalansawe, Tayibe, Avnei Hefetz, Shufa, Einav and Beit Lid, and reunites with Highway 57 at Einav junction, next to an IDF checkpoint, located on the Palestinian part of the route. From Einav junction to Shavei Shomron junction, the road is jointly accessible to Israelis and Palestinians. From Shavei Shomron to Nablus the traffic is again exclusively Palestinian. The road passes through Dir Sharf, Beit Iba checkpoint and the center of the city of Nablus, based on the path of Nahal Shekhem. From Nablus the road is a single carriageway, based on the path of Nahal Tirtza (Wadi al-Far'ah) which descends from Nablus into the Jordan Rift Valley. In this portion until the IDF checkpoint at the moshav Beka'ot the traffic is exclusively limited to Palestinians.

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