This article was originally published on Mondoweiss.
I catch a Palestinian woman making googly eyes at an Israeli baby on the train in Jerusalem. She is at that age when a woman’s body aches with evolutionary desire to reproduce. The effort she expends to restrain herself from tickling the baby’s feet is palpable. The baby’s mother chats in Hebrew with two other Israeli mothers-with-strollers. She doesn’t notice her curly-haired baby exchanging a tender smile with the veiled woman.
Behind them stand a few Orthodox black hats, one wearing iPod earphones. My curiosity burns to know what he is listening to. Although it is the middle of a school day, a Palestinian boy with a schoolbag stands near the door. There is a gentle chime, and the train moves. Smooth. No jerking. A middle-aged Israeli wearing a puffy red winter jacket steadies herself on the metal post, her hand nearly touching that of a Palestinian who looks like a laborer heading to work.
I never take this train, though I’ve long been curious how two peoples, their separation enforced in virtually every other sphere, can share such an intimate area.
The physical space, already constrained, dissolves further as the train takes on passengers on its way to the city center of West Jerusalem. Inexplicably and irrationally, my heartbeat quickens.
“Please remember to take your personal belongings when you depart the train,” the recorded message plays in Hebrew. Then in Arabic. Then in English.
As far as I can tell, the rules that Jerusalem lives by don’t apply on the train. There isn’t a discernable Arab side or an Israeli side. There isn’t a nuanced fight for territory. But is it a neutral zone or a standoff? I can’t tell if these folks have acclimated to this moving, time-limited reality or if a flare-up is imminent.
Palestinians are used to being in spaces defined by others as “not for you,” but how do the Jews feel, I wonder, sealed in such close proximity to Palestinians, a proximity that every Israeli policy aims to prevent?
I don’t have the nerve to ask them. I don’t know what I’m afraid of.
I let my eyes wander to the scene passing by outside the window. As we travel west I notice the buildings get newer and taller. The streets get cleaner. There are bike racks and recycling bins on the sidewalk. There is a sidewalk! Every little while I see an old Arab building, a witness both to the fact that Palestinians were here and the fact that they are no longer here. With weeds growing from cracks in stones, these monuments are romantic in their steadfastness in the center of modernity. Other old Arab buildings, renovated and gentrified, host cafes with fancy signs in English. I imagine their shame.
Inside the train, it is quiet. The occasional sound of Hebrew, nasal and harsh sounding to my ears, seems to rise upon acceleration and fall as the train approaches a station. No one is speaking Arabic out loud, but the physical presence of the veiled women with large shopping bags and young men with dark eyes slouching against the door is unmistakable.
Most of the Palestinians get off at the central bus station.
“He-Haluts Station. Yafeh Nof Station. Mount Herzl Station,” the computer announces in due course. Then, “End of the line. Please exit.”
Somehow, I have missed my stop.
I cross the platform to wait for the train heading back in the direction I came from. I get into the train car with some young Jews, layered hair in degradations of blond. Tourists with water bottles sticking out of backpacks cram in with religious Jewish women donning black skirts below the knee, some sporting black flats, others wearing Addidas knock offs. There are a few soldiers, but no guns. Felt kippas. Knitted kippas. Rainbow kippas. More than one young person clutches a miniature prayer book, lips flying over the words of God.
Realizing this is my chance, I take a deep breath, gather my courage, and start at one end of the train car. “Do you speak English?” A middle-aged Israeli man shakes his head. A younger Israeli man shakes his head before I ask. I sit next to an Israeli man in his twenties. He is eager to talk about the train. I pull out my notebook. “People were angry at first,” he says, “but they got used to it.” “Angry at what?” I ask, surprised to find such easy disclosure. “The traffic, of course,” he clarifies. “Jaffa Street was blocked for so long during the construction. The shop owners said they lost customers.”
“And what about the Arabs?” I ask. “Are people angry because there are Arabs on the train?” (I hear myself avoid saying the word “Palestinian” in favor of the less threatening term, “Arab.”)
For a second he looks surprised by my question, but then he smiles. “Why would they be? Both Jews and Arabs ride bus #19 from the hospital.” (Proving what? I don’t know.) He goes on to say that unlike most Jews, he speaks Arabic. He likes being in a public place where he can hear Arabic.
“I don’t see any Jews talking to Arabs,” I note glancing around. “And the Arabs aren’t even talking to one another,” I point out.
“Well, nobody really talks to anyone on the train,” he admits. “But at least we hear the announcements in Arabic.” As if on cue, the chime rings and the computer voice announces the name of the station, first in Hebrew, then in Arabic.
A Palestinian woman is even more upbeat. “The first time I rode the train it was strange to be so close to Jews. There were some problems. Some Palestinian boys got beat up. But now it’s normal for us to ride together. One time a Jew stood up to give me a seat! There was a Palestinian boy there, and he didn’t get up, but the Jew did.”
I move further down the car and find an Israeli woman. I approach. I sense an invitation to sit next to her. Too late I realize that we were past the Jewish part of town, almost at the entrance to the Palestinian station of Shu’fat. After a few more stops in Palestinian neighborhoods, this train will reach the Israeli settlements that choke Jerusalem. This woman has to be traveling to the settlements. She is a settler. It takes all my nerve to sit next to her and ask her about her experience on the train.
“At the beginning, when it first started operating, the train was too crowded. Now it’s okay.”
“And you don’t mind riding with Arabs?”
“There are security guards at every station in the Arabic neighborhoods,” she says. (I had never noticed that.) “Besides, Arabs are happy to be able to ride to Damascus Gate,” she continues. They wouldn’t jeopardize that by doing something violent. And they are happy because now more Jews shop in Arab neighborhoods.” (I really don’t think that’s true, but I don’t say anything.)
“So you are completely comfortable?” I look around, reminding her that we are traveling through the heart of Palestinian Jerusalem.
“Well…” her voice drops, “…sometimes I do wonder if the little boys that get on the train and run up and down the cars are doing that because they are Arab and want to bother us, or just because they are little boys.”
(I confess. This question has also crossed my mind.)
I sit down at the end of the car to process what I’m learning. Next to me, a Palestinian woman with an unusually fat boy in a stroller reaches her hand across the car to tap an Israeli woman picking up her daughter from a stroller. “What’s her name?” the Palestinian woman asks in broken English. The Israeli woman answers with a mother’s proud smile. It is a French name, I think, but I don’t hear it. “Mine is Odai,” the Palestinian woman offers.
“Odai?”
“Yes, Odai.”
“Bon chance,” the woman says courteously in French.
I’m sitting down, but I feel off balance. Is she not an Israeli? Or is she a French Israeli? For some reason, I feel I must know. I must know who she is or I don’t know who I am.
The Palestinian woman gets up as her stop approaches. She walks out backwards, easing the stroller onto the platform. “Toda raba,” the Palestinian woman says to the (Israeli?) woman in Hebrew, though I don’t know why she is thankful.
I get off at the next stop and watch the silver capsule glide away. No one else seems to find it a bit notable. But I stand a long time trying to figure out what it means to me, to Israelis, to Palestinians, and to prospects for peace with justice. But I can only conclude one thing for sure even if I can’t quite grasp the implications. What I conclude from my foray into ambiguity is this: A stroller can be a powerful thing on the train in Jerusalem.
An interesting analysis about why the train was targeted in the violence in Jerusalem after the brutal murder of Mohammed AbuKhedeir.
http://www.opendemocracy.net/arab-awakening/hanna-baumann/heavy-presence-of-jerusalem-light-rail-why-palestinian-protesters-attac
This comment was left next to another post, but it refers to this post so I have duplicated it here. -Nora
Hi,
I wanted to comment not on this post but on an article of yours I read on mondoweiss website about the light rail in Jerusalem. I didn’t want to register to that site but I did want to comment on it.
First, I don’t think that you distinguish between Arab and Ottoman buildings. It was the Ottomans who ruled Palestine for 400 years, not the Arabs. And there are many buildings from the Ottoman era in the route of the light rail – like on Jaffa road, and they do have this oriental style that you probably mix with Arab style.
The parts of west Jerusalem where the train passes were never places that Arabs lived in Jerusalem.
Secondly, your whole amazment and bewilderment about the fact that Arab and Jews both use the light rail is what amazed me. You seem to be totally out of touch with the way Arabs and Jews live in Jerusalem.
Maybe you haven’t heard but in the last 2 years or, the Arabs in east Jerusalem have made the previously Jewish/Zionists parts of town their daily hangout places.
Haven’t you been to Mamilla, Malha, Hadar malls?
Haven’t you been to hospitals or clinics in Jerusalem?
Haven’t you been to coffee shops in Jaffa street, Ben Yehuda?
Haven’t you been to parks and gardens in west Jerusalem?
Haven’t you been to cultural events like the light festival?
Didn’t you know that all the Israeli universities and colleges in Jerusalem are filled with Arabs students from east Jerusalem?
Didn’t you know that most Egged bus drivers, taxi drivers, many light rail drivers and inspectors and a whole wide range of other occupations in Jerusalem are manned by Arabs from east Jerusalem?
I really don’t know in what kind of secluded place you live in Jerusalem not to know all that.
The Arabs are totally floading west Jerusalem on a daily basis and mingle with the Jewish population everywhere.
While it’s dangerous for Jews to enter Arab neighborhoods in Jerusalem, the Arabs are visiting the Jewish areas in western Jerusalem by thousands every day.
So I really couldn’t figure out what the hell you were writing about – this amazement of seeing Arabs and Jews on the light rail.
A few thingas that you didn’t hear from the people you talked to:
1. In the early first days of the light rail operation a female Israeli soldier was stabbed by an Arab youth on the train.
2. Arabs sometimes stone the train as it passes through Arab neighborhoods and some of the windows in the train are cracked because of that.
3. Most Jews don’t like the fact that the Arabs are coming in masses to their areas, hang out in their coffee shops, malls, clinics and hospitals, use their public transportation etc.
Just a few days ago an young Arab man shouted hysterically and almost stabbed to death an old Jewish man who asked him to take his feet of the sit in an Egged bus.
An Arab bus driver shouted rudely at an old Jewish passanger who gave him a 50 shekel note and he didn’t have change.
A Jewish egged bus driver told me that the Arab drivers have totally ruined the new Egged buses with their violent way of driving as many passenger feel – they drive too fast and in a more reckless way than Jews bus driver.
Another time I saw a young Arab man jumping on the roof of a new bus stop in west Jerusalem, almost breaking it after he threw the burning cigarette he was smoking to the flowes near by.
Most Jews think that the Arab population is more violent, less considerate of the environment, hostile and really basically taking advantage of Israel.
It amazes you to see Atrabs using the light rail? Why? were they ever shy at taking advange of everything they could get from Israel?
The light rail and the fact that the Arabs now flood west Jerusalem on a daily basis made even the most right wing Israelis want to divide the city and separate ourselves from the Arab population which seem to really love to hang out with us everywhere. I really don’t understand your amazement. What I think is that you, being new to the area just don’t know how the Arabs live in Israel and in Jerusalem.
They WANT to be part of us. They want everything Israel has and gives them. It’s us who don’t want them. I do wish the Palestinian authority and fuure state will provide them with stipends, education, public transportation etc etc. They are not part of Israel and we should separare ourselves from them (you) before they’ll make us like them. They can only take our society and country backward.
I appreciate your comment and will think about it for a long time. I find it compelling, really, the passion that you seem to have for “facts” that are to me totally illogical. How interesting it would be to sit and discuss! I don’t want to pick apart your comment, but to pull a few things you’ve said as examples so I can explain my point. First, yes the Ottomans ruled Palestine. Was it not Arabs they were ruling? Or you think that those homes were occupied only by the Turkish rulers? Or because Ottomans were ruling, the houses that Arabs lived in have to be considered Turkish? I really don’t get this. It seems like you’re bending facts to fit into some pre-conceived notion that “Palestinians were not there” because it suits the rest of your argument: that they should be there. The rest of your comment is similar. You say there are lots of places where Palestinians and Israelis mix (malls, hospitals, etc.) so why am I so amazed by the train? But then you go on to talk about all the ways that Palestinians and Israelis don’t mix. I mean, if it is true when you say: “Most Jews think that the Arab population is more violent, less considerate of the environment, hostile and really basically taking advantage of Israel,” then the fact of thousands of people crushed together in a 10 meter space without incident is, to me, quite worth analyzing. I need more time to process the rest of what you wrote. It’s very, very deep. Perhaps some others can jump into this conversation?
The Ottomans ruled a provice which barren, desolated and mostly empty. They ruled Jews and Arabs. How many people did they rule? Why don’t you check wikipedia. In the begining of the 19th century they counted about a quarter of a million people in ALL of Palestine. A land that has now more than 10 million people.
During the Ottoman period, the Jews who wanted to settle in Palestine/holy land were faced with many obstacles because they were not Muslims – and the Ottoman we know were. But Jews settled in the holy land nevertheless throughout the many centuries afer they were chased out of it by the Romans.
After Zionisn started, and later the British Mandate, the number of Arabs in Palestine doubled as many came to Palestine from neighboring countries to enjoy the development the Zionists and afterwards the Jews brought to the land. These are all facts, no matter how hard it is for you to accept them. The first university in Ottoman Palestine, after 400 years was built by the Jews – the Technion which was established in 1912.
No one called the relatively few Arabs in Palestine “Palestinians”. They were called Arabs and were never considered by anyone in the world as the natives of Palestine or as the owners of the land. Most came to the land from neighboring countries at some point
Palestine was never an arab country or the country of the relatively few Arabs who lived in it like Poland is the country of the Polish People etc. Or as everybody in the world for 2000 years associated the Jews with the holy land. Palestine/holy land was ruled for thousands of years by many people, but never Arabs.
The name “Palestinians” was adopted by the arabs only after 1967. Before that they and everyone else referred to them as Arabs.
During the 19th century, before Zionism started, more and more Europeans started to take a new interest in the holy land and many travelled to it. All of them speak of a barren, mostly empty land. Just a few examples:
The English cartographer Arthur Penrhyn Stanley wrote about the landscape of Judea in 1881:
‘It is hardly an exaggeration to say that for miles and miles, there was no appearance of life or habitation.’
In 1857, British Counsel in Palestine James Finn wrote to the Earl of Clarendon: “The country is, (to) a considerable degree, empty of inhabitants and therefore its greatest need is that of a body of population.”
There are on YouTube films made by the British film company Pathé. I saw one describing Palestine during Ottoman time and it was finished by the words : “The desolation which is now Palestine”.
And the list goes on an on (Mark Twain for instance). Non Jewish travellers to the 19th century Palestine who see nothing but mostly empty, desolated, barren, forsaken land.
Nowadays the “Palestinians” take ownership of everything that non arabs built and developed in Jerusalem as if it got something to do with them or their heritage. French, Russian, German, British people and others have built hospitals, churces, consulates in Ottoman Palestine in 19th century. What do these have to do with the Arabs? These Europeans didn’t see these Arabs at any time as having anything to do with Palestine. Now the “Palestinans” include all these building as part of their country. It’s ridiculous.
But to the point. It is a fact that the Arabs did not live in the western parts that the train passes, and the buildings on Jaffa street are Ottomans. The Ottoman houses along Jaffa street were NOT occupied by Arabs. Maybe you forgot, but there were also Jews who lived in Jerusalem, and they too lived in Ottoman buildings or buildings that Jews built which were influenced by Ottoman architucture.
Most of the Jewish community in Jerusalem before Zionism started was Sephardi – Jews that were among the Jews who were expelled from Spain and Portugal in the 15th century and who many moved to the Arab world from there (and some to the holy land).
These Jews had their own language – the Ladino and they were also influenced more by the Arab culture in the years they lived in Arab countries.
The Mahane Yehuda Market for instance, is built in the Mahane Yehuda neighborhood which was established in 1887 by Sephardi Jews. The buildings on Jaffa road next to the market look Ottoman – don’t they? Well no Arabs lived there. It was a Jewish neighborhood.
Another example – the Nahalat Shiv’a neighborhood which borders Jaffa road near Zion square was established in the 1860s by Jews as well, and was populated by Jews. Many of its buildings are built in an Ottoman style.
I find that many “Palestinians” are really ignorant about the place that they claim is their country. Totally ommiting historic facts that have to do with the Jewish presence in Jerusalem and Palestine, and totally enhncing and exaggerating the Arab presence in Palestine, or what Palestine was before te zionists and Israelis started to build it from scratch.
Regarding theYou wrote that “the fact of thousands of people crushed together in a 10 meter space without incident is, to me, quite worth analyzing”. Well first of all, as I wrote some Israelis were already hurt by this – like the poor soldier girls who got stabbed by an Arab.
Secondly, as one of the passengers you spoke with mentioned, there are security personnel in every station. Many Jews would rather that there were also security men on the train itself.
And as this passenger also mentioned, the arabs who you the light train and buses. The Arabs who come to the social security institutes in Jerusalem to get their stipends from Israel, the Arabs who enjoy the Israeli coffee shops, who come to get treatment in an Israeli hospital etc. know that they are in Israeli territory and know that they get something from Israel which they wouldn’t won’t to risk by behaving in a violent way.
For instance, before there was a light rail, Egged buses used to run in Arab neighborhoods like Shoafat. But due to constant stone throwings on these buses by Arabs, at some point Egged pulled out its services from some Arab neighborhoods. That hurt the Arab population which got a less convenient, reliable or modern service from Arab minibuses.
The same goes for instance for other Israeli services. For instance, in the past the Jerusalem municipality couldn’t build clinics or postoffice branches in the Arab neighborhoodsd in Jerusalem since they were burnt down immediately. Now the Arabs have learn to appreciate these services in their areas and they don’t vandalize them.
The same goes for the presence of Arabs in Jerusalem center. Even though on a week day you sometimes see more Arabs than Jews strolling on Jaffa street, they know that it’s an Israeli area and that if they behave in a violent way they will be delt with. I sometimes see Arab young men sit on benches on Jaffa street looking at girls in a dirty look and you see that they are on the verge of harrassing them – calling catcalls etc. but they will not do that there because they know this kind of behavior will not be tolerated by the Jews.
But if you take an Israeli Jew and put him or her in an Arab area in Jerusalem – it would be a totally different story. Then there’s a very good chance that they will be harrassed if not attacked – as happened time and time again.
Ironically I think it’s only in Jewish areas that Arab women can walk freely and with confident that they will not be harrassed by Arab young men.