The Malakhi Junction, also known as

Qastina Qastina ( ar, قسطينة) was a Palestinian village, located 38 kilometers northeast of Gaza City. It was depopulated during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war. Location Qastina was situated on an elevated spot in a generally flat area on the coastal ...

( he, קסטינה) for the Arab village which once stood there, is a major

road junction A junction is where two or more roads meet. History Roads began as a means of linking locations of interest: towns, forts and geographic features such as river fords. Where roads met outside of an existing settlement, these junctions often led ...

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

, between Highway 40 and 3. It is located on the 37th kilometer of Highway 3. Like most junctions in Israel, it serves as a major transportation hub and has a

trempiada Trempiyada (accent on the syllable -ya-) is Hebrew (טרמפיאדה, derived from the German ''trampen'') for a designated place at a junction of highways or main roads in Israel from which hitchhikers, called ''trempists'', may solicit rides. Th ...

, or hitchhiking stand. Due to its proximity to

Kiryat Malakhi Kiryat Malakhi ( he, קִרְיַת מַלְאָכִי, also Qiryat Malakhi or Kiryat Malachi) is a city in the Southern District of Israel, from Ashkelon. In it had a population of . Its jurisdiction is 4,632 dunams (~4.6 km2). Histor ...

, it is also sometimes considered Kiryat Malakhi's central bus station, operated by the

Be'er Tuvia Regional Council Be'er Tuvia Regional Council ( he, מועצה אזורית באר טוביה, ''Mo'atza Azorit Be'er Tovia''), is a regional council in the southern Coastal Plain region in Israel. It borders Yoav and Nahal Sorek regional councils in the east; ...

. In that capacity however, it has been often criticized, to the point that

Ynet Ynet (stylized as ynet) is one of the major Israeli news and general-content websites, and is the online outlet for the '' Yedioth Ahronot'' newspaper. However, most of Ynet's content is original work, published exclusively on the website and wri ...

uses a photo of the bus stations in Qastina as a stock photo for public transportation critiques. In a March 2007 survey, Ynet gave Qastina a 0/10 rating (the lowest) out of 11 bus station checked nationwide. On March 1, 2008, the Israeli Channel 2 ran a similar survey, ranking Qastina lowest, with 0/3 on its three main criteria. In addition, the junction is a common stop for Israelis traveling between the north/center of the country (

Haifa Haifa ( he, חֵיפָה ' ; ar, حَيْفَا ') is the third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropol ...

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( he, תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, translit=Tēl-ʾĀvīv-Yāfō ; ar, تَلّ أَبِيب – يَافَا, translit=Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā, links=no), often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the G ...

) to the south (

Beersheba Beersheba or Beer Sheva, officially Be'er-Sheva ( he, בְּאֵר שֶׁבַע, ''Bəʾēr Ševaʿ'', ; ar, بئر السبع, Biʾr as-Sabʿ, Well of the Oath or Well of the Seven), is the largest city in the Negev desert of southern Israel. ...

Eilat Eilat ( , ; he, אֵילַת ; ar, إِيلَات, Īlāt) is Israel's southernmost city, with a population of , a busy port and popular resort at the northern tip of the Red Sea, on what is known in Israel as the Gulf of Eilat and in Jordan ...

), a fact that helps maintain several fast food and other small stores. The junction has a Better Place battery replacement station. During the

October 2000 events The October 2000 protests, also known as October 2000 events, were a series of protests in Arab villages in northern Israel in October 2000 that turned violent, escalating into rioting by Israeli Arabs, which led to counter-rioting by Israeli Je ...

, Arab citizens burned tires and threw rocks at passing buses at the junction.

Bus lines

Following is a list of bus lines which stop in the junction's terminal. ¹ – stops in the terminal in one direction only
² – Sundays only

Road accidents

In the beginning of 2010, Ayelet Malko suffered fatal injuries after being run over while crossing the junction. This contributed to a decision to build a pedestrian bridge in the area, which was planned to have been completed by the end of 2010.

Plans

The

National Roads Company of Israel Netivei Israel ( he, נתיבי ישראל, Netivei Yisra'el, ''lit.'' Routes of Israel), formerly the National Roads Company of Israel ( he, החברה הלאומית לדרכים בישראל, ), also called National Roads Authority, is a govern ...

approved 500 million NIS to upgrade the junction to an interchange.

References

{{coord, 31, 43, 54.67, N, 34, 45, 24.53, E, display=title Junctions in Israel Geography of Southern District (Israel) Road junctions in Israel

Bus lines

Road accidents

Plans

See also

References