On Friday I got stuck trying to get home. I had been to a “simcha,” a festive occasion not too far from Shiloh. I calculated that I’d have no problem getting home on one of the Israeli buses to Ariel that stop at the Yarkon Junction. The only problem was that the buses didn’t stop. They were full of Arabs who work in the Tel Aviv-Petach Tikva areas. I don’t know what percentage of them have work permits or not or how they get to work. But there are times of the day when the buses are so full of them, there’s no room for any more passengers by the time they reach Yarkon Junction.
Finally one stopped for me. I happily got on the bus and paid the driver. Then the driver said:
“There’s no room. I just let you on since someone got off from the back.”
Then I look around and saw that I was possibly the only Jew on the bus. I wasn’t about to stand until they got off, most probably just before Ariel. So I calmly sat down on the steps near the driver. It’s not the cleanest place to sit, but it’s comfortable.
A few miles down the road, after we had passed a couple of stops without stopping at all, some passengers got off. I had to get off the bus to let them off. And I realized from the conversations some had with the driver, that he was also an Arab. I was happy to be on my way home and prayed for the best.
After another group of Arabs got off, finally I sat down on a proper seat. And then at the bus stop at the entrance to Ariel, before the security check, the bus emptied almost completely. Then there were about three of us, all who looked like Israeli Jews, left on the bus. By the time I got off near the Ariel University I was the only passenger left. The bus driver and I discussed which stop was best for me. The driver was polite to me the entire trip, and I did feel safe. What bothers me is that the bus fares are subsidized by Israeli taxpayers. These are Israeli buses, public transportation. And it’s not right that Israeli citizens should find themselves waiting at bus stops without bus service.
In Jerusalem there are these gorgeous new modern white buses that are part of an Arab bus company that connects Jerusalem to nearby Arab towns. Why can’t there be something like that in the Petach Tikva area to Samaria? That way there will be room on the Israeli buses for Jews?
“What bothers me is that the bus fares are subsidized by Israeli taxpayers. These are Israeli buses, public transportation. And it’s not right that Israeli citizens should find themselves waiting at bus stops without bus service.”
Batya # 1 If as you say these Arabs are working in Israel they are presumably paying some taxes and their employers are also paying taxes.
# 2 Do you seriously want buses inside Israel to be like airplanes with people having to show citizenship papers , visas etc. ?
Also how would this work in practice let’s say a Jewish (or some pro Israel gentile) tourist wants to use a bus should he not be able to do that?
By the way many countries subsidize public transport, buses , trains etc. and I never heard of any place that only limits its use to citizens.
Sorry, Ariel, but please don’t presume. Illegal workers work black, meaning tax free. Do you think that when the buses are going in the opposite direction there isn’t na inspection, and if Arabs don’t have permits they can get to their jobs. There isn’t any real wall, and the illegal Arab workers have all sorts of ways to get to work. Going home is easy, since the drivers must let them in the bus and the govt doesn’t care who enters Samaria, just who crosses the “line,” which is not the same as the “green line” in this area.