land.136 While Palestinians are not explicitly excluded from using the line, there are no train stations servicing Palestinian communities. Instead, it facilitates a connection that strictly serves Israeli-Jewish commuter needs. Moreover, Palestinians who live in the West Bank are not allowed to travel abroad via Al-Lydd Airport without a special permit, and so are generally prohibited from accessing it. Instead they must cross overland to Jordan and fly out of the airport in Amman.137 2.2.3. Thwarting Palestinian Tr a n s p o r t a t i o n Attempts to Develop Almost thirty years after the Oslo Accords entrenched the further fragmentation of an already fragmented Palestinian territory into Areas A, B and C, the creation of isolated Palestinian enclaves is now almost complete. In this context, the PA, with the support of the European Union (EU), has developed the Road and Transportation Master Plan 2016-2045. This plan purports to create flexible road, rail, air, maritime and public transport systems, as well as land Border Crossing Points (BCPs) in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, based on models such as those proposed by the EU and the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) recommendations, methodologies and conventions.138 Regarding road transport, the plan proposes to upgrade road design and road construction in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip including Areas A, B, and C, nature reserves, and main, regional, local and proposed new road networks, including municipal to regional links and vice versa. The plan also suggests maritime and air transport with a range of alternatives. For rail transport, the plan considers that the objective need for a rail network stems from Palestine’s need to link to a regionally-planned rail network, linking together the Arab countries of the Mashreq Region.139 The rail is conceived with two types of connections. The first are international connections that link Rafah BCP, south of Gaza Strip, to Tell Al Bayada BCP, north-east of West Bank, hence linking Egypt to the Jordan BCP. The second type are national connections constructed as the central spine that runs along the north-south thoroughfare, connecting major cities such as 136 Ibid. 137 Supra 136. 138 Palestinian Ministry of Transportation, “Road and Transportation Master Plan West Bank and Gaza Strip 2016 – Annex 7 Security Issues,” (30 September 2016), available at: http://www.mot.gov.ps/ ntmp/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/NTMP_AX7_Security-Issues.pdf 139 Mashreq: the Arabic reference for countries east of the Arab world, is used to include Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, the Occupied Palestinian Territories and Syria. 41