Parallel Lines?

Jerusalem tram heading towards East Jerusalem

I need first to interpret this photograph for my friends in Edinburgh. This moving object with all the people inside is indeed a new tram. And I know my friends will not believe me, but for Edinburgh, as has happened recently for Jerusalem, a time will come when trams move, and people are carried!

In August this year, when we returned to Scotland for deputation, the Jerusalem trams were in the final stages of testing. The city centre to East Jerusalem line has just ended a period of free operation. Now passengers have to pay the equivalent of about £1.15 for a ticket. The ticket is time-stamped and can be used on trams and buses for up to 90 minutes after purchase.

There have been some striking parallels between Edinburgh and Jerusalem in the development of the tram ways – and I will outline some of them. Then later I will look at some of the major differences.

Both city centres have been subjected to chaos as roads are dug up to prepare for tracks being laid – Edinburgh for the trams, Jerusalem for the start of an 8 track light rail system. Residents of both cities have wondered if there would ever be a time when it was possible to get about the city without unexpected delays and road closures.

Both cities have significant traffic problems that need to be dealt with, and both have come up with controversial plans of action that have ended up well over budget, (the estimated budget for the Jerusalem light-rail is $1.2 billion), have experienced disputes between local authorities and the consortium of contractors, and have seen dates of completion extended.

The work in Jerusalem began in 2002 with the trams planned to begin working by January 2009. Retail businesses on the routes have complained of a prolonged period of disruption and loss of trade – some have even gone out of business, blaming ‘the trams’. Earlier this year a vegetable vendor at the central Yehuda Market was quoted by ynetnews.com, saying, “The entire city centre, market and residents have all been crushed for the sake of this wretched project. They said 2006, then it was put off to 2008, then 2009. Now it’s 2011…..”

The main shopping street of Yafo while tramlines are being constructed

The vision for Jerusalem’s light rail system comes from the early days after the signing of the Oslo Peace Accord in 1993, which was a time of optimism. It was thought that Jerusalem might become a major international city which peacefully bridged both east and west, and the city planners felt they had to plan for a major influx of visitors, and at the same time limit the number of cars that enter the city centre. The idea of upgrading the public transport system with a light rail system modelled on European cities like Strasbourg and Bordeaux, seemed very attractive.

But right from the start the construction work was plagued with delays. There were disputes over approval of plans, and some work that needed to be re-done. At one time a whole section of track had to be re-laid when the concrete began to crack. (In Edinburgh in October they were digging up Princes Street to relay track for a similar reason). And, of course, in a historical city there are always delays due to archaeological finds.

The delays and disruption to daily life seemed to be endless, and the development became very unpopular with the public. In 2008 a new Mayor, Nir Barkat, swept to power in the municipal elections. He stood on a manifesto that included conducting a thorough review of the whole light-rail project and, possibly, scrapping most of it. He told reporters, “The whole way this was managed was extremely poor. There was no accountability,”

Many Parallel lines, perhaps? But there are many issues which make the Jerusalem situation quite unique.

If you have visited St. Andrew’s Church and Guesthouse in Jerusalem by car, you will know that the last stretch of the main road passes the entrance gate, but road restrictions deny access into the driveway. You must turn back and travel quite a distance away from St. Andrew’s before you can manoeuvre into the lane that allows you to drive in through the gates. Local businesses similarly affected have complained to the municipality that this is very difficult. The response they got was – ‘We know. But it will just have to be difficult. The centre of Jerusalem is a nightmare for traffic. More people need to leave their cars at home and take the bus or taxi or tram.’

A recent newspaper article stated that the town planners are pinning a lot of hope on the success of the tram way to eventually carry about 35% of public transport. It is seen as an important element of an integrated transport policy.

‘Integrated’? Now that is a very interesting word to use in the context of Jerusalem.

Jerusalem tram in Yafo

The active tram line I see in my travel by car runs from Yafo (Jaffa Street) in the West Jerusalem city centre, out alongside one of the main traffic routes out of the city towards Tel Aviv. The route passes through the arab villages of Shu’afat and Beit Hanina, East Jerusalem communities of about 60,000 people, and into major Jewish settlements in East Jerusalem. This route is controversial because East Jerusalem is recognised by the United Nations as ‘occupied territory’ and therefore under international law it is illegal for the State of Israel to take this land for its own purposes. There have been court cases in other countries that have impacted on some of the international developers.

The municipality argues that the trams are there to benefit all, (there are three tram stops in Shu’afat), and the Mayor was quoted in the local press in July as saying, “This is an effective way to create a network which enables all residents of Jerusalem, regardless of their religion, to move from any source to any destination.” The Guardian newspaper recently quoted Nadav Meroz of the Jerusalem Transportation Master Plan as saying that the railway will serve all communities in Jerusalem: “men, women, Arab, Christian and Jew…. Muslims in the north and east of the city will be able to travel quickly to pray at mosques in the Old City. Our project is for all communities, it’s a solution for everyone.”

But residents of East Jerusalem are suspicious that the primary purpose of this line is actually to service the further out Jewish settlements in East Jerusalem where the tram line currently terminates – and, of course, any new settlements that might be built in the future.

I think it will be interesting to see over time who actually travels on this line. It is hard to imagine that there would be many travellers between the arab villages of Shu’afat or Beit Hanina and the Jewish settlements (or vice versa). And I also wonder if there will be significant travel by tram into central West Jerusalem from these villages. If there is, it will be a positive new development.

There have already been reports of youngsters in Shu’afat throwing stones at passing trams. True, this can happen in any community (concrete blocks thrown off bridges above motorways!) but it can also be a sign of ‘this doesn’t belong to us’, ‘this is hostile to us’.

This is not an ‘integrated’ city – it is a city of different parts, a ‘mosaic’ – and in practice people from the various different sectors of the city do not want to travel together, or to travel to the same destinations. A friend in Scotland told me she had read a magazine report about the Jerusalem tram way and that it had been described as an opportunity for peaceful co-existence – that arabs and jews would be travelling in the same compartments, that conversations could spring up and perhaps new friendships begin.

Interestingly, in the newspapers recently it was reported that a tram had to be evacuated after dozens of Arab and Jewish girls clashed in one of the cars. It was reported that a Jewish girl pulled out a personal canister of tear gas and sprayed it at the Arab girls. When the gas spread throughout the train, the driver had to stop and let passengers out.

Last year there were demands from Jerusalem’s ultra-orthodox community that some of the carriages should be segregated by gender so that men and women would not be forced into close proximity. These demands were unsuccessful.

And recently Veolia City Pass, the operator, has been criticised on two fronts. They undertook a survey of Israeli’s asking if they would be uncomfortable using the tramway with arabs. Some of the language in the survey has been widely criticised as discriminatory. And more recently in recruitment, they have been accused of looking only for employees who can speak Hebrew and English, despite the fact that the official languages here are Arabic and Hebrew, and all the signage and automated instructions are in three languages.

Jerusalem tram close to the New Gate of the Old City

The advent of the trams has become another arena for the loud and confusing discourse that so often settles in over Jerusalem. It is a new initiative that asks the different parts of the ‘mosaic’ to inter-relate, and that is difficult. But more, the voices that say, ’don’t look at the trams, look first at the injustice’ are shrugged off as almost spoil-sports, standing in the way of a brave new future. And those who make claims for the ‘vision’ of the trams, express that vision as if there were no hard political and social issues to be dealt with. Ynet.com reported one of the municipality officials as saying, ’one day the tramway could stretch as far as Ramallah’.

But many things would have to change before such a tramway could bridge the gap between the heart of Ramallah and the heart of West Jerusalem. Today such a journey involves travelling from a major arab city under occupation, through Jewish settlements on arab land, through arab East Jerusalem communities absorbed into greater Jerusalem, right into the Jewish heart of the city. In our everyday discourse, some of us talk peace when there actually is no peace – and then truth is not only not heard, it is often just completely ignored.

In the meantime, these trams will glide elegantly along the streets of Jerusalem, carrying their commuters and visitors. And I for one will stop and admire them in the passing (a tram-spotter!). But perhaps if the problems in this region do have a satisfactory resolution, the trams could indeed become meeting grounds of peaceful co-existence.

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