Latrun Interchange is a key road interchange of

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 ...

, located in the Latrun Salient in the Israeli occupied West Bank. It lies on the route between

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

and

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 ...

, at the intersection of

Highway 1 The following highways are numbered 1. For roads numbered A1, see list of A1 roads. For roads numbered B1, see list of B1 roads. For roads numbered M1, see List of M1 roads. For roads numbered N1, see list of N1 roads. For roads numbered ...

and

Highway 3 The following highways are numbered 3, H-3, PRI-3, AH3, E03 and R3. For roads numbered A3, see A3 roads. For roads numbered M3, see M3. For roads numbered N3, see N3. For roads numbered 3A, see 3A. International * Asian Highway 3 * Europea ...

. It is a slightly modified

diamond interchange A diamond interchange is a common type of road junction, used where a controlled-access highway crosses a minor road. Design The freeway itself is grade-separated from the minor road, one crossing the other over a bridge. Approaching the ...

. The high speed ramps of westbound Highway 1 connect with Highway 3 at a traffic-light controlled junction. The high speed ramps of eastbound Highway 1 connect with Highway 3 at two offset, uncontrolled junctions. The interchange lies east of the

Green Line Green Line may refer to: Places Military and political * Green Line (France), the German occupation line in France during World War II * Green Line (Israel), the 1949 armistice line established between Israel and its neighbours ** City Line ( ...

within the

Latrun Latrun ( he, לטרון, ''Latrun''; ar, اللطرون, ''al-Latrun'') is a strategic hilltop in the Latrun salient in the Ayalon Valley, and a depopulated Palestinian village. It overlooks the road between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, 25 kilometers ...

Salient, technically part of the

West Bank The West Bank ( ar, الضفة الغربية, translit=aḍ-Ḍiffah al-Ġarbiyyah; he, הגדה המערבית, translit=HaGadah HaMaʽaravit, also referred to by some Israelis as ) is a landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...

History

The name Latrun is ultimately derived from the ruins of a medieval castle. There are two theories regarding the origin of the name. One is that it is a corruption of the French, ''Le toron'' des chevaliers (''The Castle'' of the Knights), named by the

Crusaders The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were in ...

. The other is that it is from the Latin, Domus bonu ''Latronis'' (The House of the Good ''

Thief Theft is the act of taking another person's property or services without that person's permission or consent with the intent to deprive the rightful owner of it. The word ''theft'' is also used as a synonym or informal shorthand term for some ...

''), a name given by 14th century Christian pilgrims after the

penitent thief The Penitent Thief, also known as the Good Thief, Wise Thief, Grateful Thief, or Thief on the Cross, is one of two unnamed thieves in Luke's account of the crucifixion of Jesus in the New Testament. The Gospel of Luke describes him asking Jesus ...

who was crucified by the Romans alongside

Jesus Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...

(). Adjacent to the castle ruins is the Latrun Monastery, founded in 1890 by

Trappist The Trappists, officially known as the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance ( la, Ordo Cisterciensis Strictioris Observantiae, abbreviated as OCSO) and originally named the Order of Reformed Cistercians of Our Lady of La Trappe, are a ...

monks dedicated to

Our Lady of the Seven Sorrows Our Lady of Sorrows ( la, Beata Maria Virgo Perdolens), Our Lady of Dolours, the Sorrowful Mother or Mother of Sorrows ( la, Mater Dolorosa, link=no), and Our Lady of Piety, Our Lady of the Seven Sorrows or Our Lady of the Seven Dolours are names ...

. Opposite the monastery off of Highway 3 is

Yad La-Shiryon Yad La-Shiryon (officially: The Armored Corps Memorial Site and Museum at Latrun; he, יד לשריון) is Israel's official memorial site for fallen soldiers from the Israeli Armor Corps, armored corps, as well as one of the most diverse tank ...

, the Israel Armored Corps Memorial Site and Museum and Mini Israel, an Israel-themed

miniature park A miniature park is a display of miniature buildings and models, usually as a recreational and tourist attraction open to the public. A miniature park may contain a model of a single city or town, often called a miniature city or model village ...

. Directly east of the interchange on Highway 3 are the ruins of the

ancient Roman In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom (753–509 BC ...

city of

Emmaus Nicopolis Nicopolis ( grc-gre, Νικόπολις, ''Nikópolis'') was the name of Emmaus ( he, אמאוס; grc-gre, Ἀμμαοῦς, ''Ammaoûs''; ar, عِمواس, ''Imwas'') under the Roman Empire until the Islamic conquest of Palestine, conquest of P ...

and the former site of

Imwas Imwas or Emmaus ( ar, عِمواس), known in classical times as Nicopolis ( gr, Νικόπολις, lit=City of Victory), was a Palestinian Arab village located southeast of the city of Ramla and from Jerusalem in the Latrun salient of the We ...

, an Arab village which was destroyed as a result of the

Six-Day War The Six-Day War (, ; ar, النكسة, , or ) or June War, also known as the 1967 Arab–Israeli War or Third Arab–Israeli War, was fought between Israel and a coalition of Arab world, Arab states (primarily United Arab Republic, Egypt, S ...

. Further east is the 7,000

dunam A dunam ( Ottoman Turkish, Arabic: ; tr, dönüm; he, דונם), also known as a donum or dunum and as the old, Turkish, or Ottoman stremma, was the Ottoman unit of area equivalent to the Greek stremma or English acre, representing the amount ...

Ayalon-Canada Park.

References

{{Coord, 31, 50, 21.2, N, 34, 59, 13.7, E, type:landmark, display=title Road interchanges in Israel