Israel is reportedly preparing to reopen Route 463 for settler traffic, a move that threatens to isolate eight Palestinian villages and two large residential neighborhoods in the occupied West Bank, including northern Ramallah and el-Bireh. The reopening is part of a 1.075-billion-Israeli-shekel ($355 million) settler infrastructure budget and is being pushed for implementation before the Israeli elections on October 27. The Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission, a PLO-affiliated monitor, warned that this plan is part of a "systematic policy to dismantle Palestinian geographic and demographic contiguity."