Arabs on Ariel Buses, Another Problem

In the past I've written about the ongoing situation in which the buses from the Petach Tikva, Tzomet Yarkon Junction area going to Ariel are overloaded with Arabs to the extent in which they skip bus stops leaving Jewish passengers stranded. I wrote about it here, here and here.

Yesterday afternoon I was there again in the afternoon and needed a bus to Ariel. One bus passed without stopping, but soon afterwards another one came. I was able to board the bus and had to walk until close to the back of the bus until I found a seat next to a female IDF soldier just across from the rear door.

I relaxed, used the cellphone Siddur app to pray the Mincha afternoon prayer and then didn't pay much attention to what was happening on the bus. I heard someone ask the driver to open the rear-door, and then a bit later I someone pressing on my right shoulder and arm.

The bus had somehow filled with Arabs. There must have been at least thirty 30 men crowded into the narrow aisle, so those of us sitting in aisle seats kept getting pushed and shoved. I found myself crowding into the space of the young woman sitting next to me, while simultaneously pushing the Arabs off of me. I apologized to the woman by mentioning that the driver isn't allowed by law to fill the aisle. She replied that an Inspector just boarded.

The Inspector asked to see our tickets, and I could hear and see him confirm that many of those Arabs did not have tickets. Apparently when I was busy with my eyes on my screen Arabs had boarded via the rear door without paying. When he got to me, I mentioned the unbearable crowding, and he replied that by law it is forbidden to have more than I can't remember if he said eight or ten people standing in the aisle. BTW the bus driver was an Arab, too.

I don't know what the procedure is in other places, but here in Israel, if an Inspector discovers that a passenger hasn't paid, the driver is fined. When the inspector got off, I could hear (and not understand) very loud talking in Arabic. That is very rare. Generally the Arabs are extremely quiet on the Israeli buses.

Thank Gd they are starting to send Inspectors on the buses. Never dull...

While waiting for a bus at the Yarkon Junction, I spotted this plane coming from the nearby Ben Gurion International Airport

True Story: No Room on Israeli Bus for Jewish Passengers

This past Friday I found myself sitting on the steps in a #86 bus from the Yarkon Junction to Ariel. Happy to finally be on my way home, I just sat down on the steps near the driver. I really felt much more comfortable in more ways than one. Here's the story...

On Friday I got stuck trying to get home. I had been to a "simcha," a festive occasion not too far from the Yarkon Junction. 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.

Since there wasn't a free seat, and I didn't feel like doing the staring until someone got up thing. 

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, yes, next to an Arab. It was in the front row. 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?

Very Enthusiastic Arabs in Sha'ar Binyamin

The other night at work I noticed an Arab family, parents and daughter taking lots of pictures when entering Rami Levy. By the time I got my camera ready, they were finishing, so I only got one blurred shot.

Later on they came into the shoe store where I was working and got so friendly, even took more photos. I'm probably in some of them. They seemed so happy to be there in Yafiz and Rami Levy, Sha'ar Binyamin. I honestly couldn't figure out why. They aren't the first Arabs I've seen taking selfies and photos of their family/group/friends in the stores and shopping center. But I've never seen such enthusiasm.

Any guesses?

Teaching Spanish to Arabs

Since working at Yafiz, Sha'ar Binyamin, I've gotten to know a lot of Arabs and a lot about Islam. Their Ramadan fast isn't like any of our Jewish fasts. First of all they fast for the entire month, only during daylight hours. And as soon as the sun begins to set, they can eat. They don't have to wait for darkness. And Ramadan isn't just about feasting and fasting. After Ramadan they celebrate Eid-al-Fitr with lots of food and feasting. And for Eid-al-Fitr they also need new clothes for the entire family.

Arabs shopping in Rami Levy, Sha'ar Binyamin

Over the years working in Yafiz, I've learned that this is a holiday in which only new clothes are worn, and I shouldn't try to help them be practical. They want the nicest and most fashionable for themselves and their children.

A lot of the men like a style of shirt we always sell. The problem is that the brand we have now doesn't have the usual S, M, L, XL etc to indicate sizes. Apparently, the company is from Spain or South America, although, like everything else, the shirts are "Made in China." The sizes on these shirts are P, M and G. Almost everyone finds this confusing.

Luckily, I studied Spanish in high school and used to be pretty fluent, so remembering that grande is large and pequeño is small didn't take me long.

I've been teaching our customers, and other staff members, these Spanish words for weeks already. There's a humor in this at times. Here I am with my horrendous American-accented Hebrew teaching everyone some basic Spanish words. And when I'm dealing with Arabs, we use lots of pantomime and my very limited Arabic vocabulary which consists of barely a handful of words. Among them is achbar, or something like that, which means "bigger." And we joke around and never say a word about politics. They like shopping in our store, and I enjoy selling.

This may not be what the Leftists call "peace," but it sure isn't war.

More About Arabs on Jewish Buses, Big Problem!

Arabs getting on #86 at Beilinson
Hospital Petach Tikvah

Yesterday, again, I had to deal with the cons, the problems, the disadvantages of Arabs on Jewish buses in the Shomron, Samaria. I must say that we do not have that situation in the Benjamin District, probably because our buses all go into Jewish communities, and that is forbidden for Arabs without papers. 

Arabs getting on #86
at Beilinson Hospital
Petach Tikvah

The Afakim bus company which goes from the Shomron to Petach Tikva, Ariel and Tel Aviv, has many stops on the main road, which brings the Arabs who work in Israel (the Tel Aviv area) near their towns and villages. That is not the case for us. The only stops I've seen Arabs get on and off are Pisgat Zeev and Sha'ar Binyamin, and those Arabs all have permits/papers allowing them into Jerusalem.

In Israel the public transportation, bus companies, although businesses must follow certain government guidelines. That especially pertains to those buses that go to Judea and Samaria, and that is because our bus fares are discounted. The government calculates the number according to Israelis whom they estimate will ride the buses, not taking into account that they permit Arabs to ride them along with us. The result is simple to predict. They buses are full. The buses are overfull, and Jewish Israelis are left waiting.

overfull bus didn't let us on at Tzomet Yarkon (junction)

I was dropped off to wait for a bus to Ariel at Tzomet Yarkon (Junction) yesterday, and I couldn't believe how many people were waiting. Foolishly, at first I thought is was a good sign, that they, wiser than yours truly, knew that buses were about to come. But the sad truth was that buses had come and went without letting on a single passenger. There wasn't even standing room. They were overloaded with Jewish and Arab passengers. The buses just don't come frequently enough. By the time they reach that bus stop, they are packed, like New York City Subways at rush hour. And unlike the subways, they have a driver who controls the doors. Passengers are let off via the back door, while the front door stays shut.

Lucky for me, I'm an experienced trempistit hitchhiker and bus passenger hailing from New York, and I got to the very front when a bus finally did let a few of us in. There were well over a dozen exhausted people left standing in the hot sun waiting for yet another bus.

I had to travel standing most of the way to Ariel. I was one of the only females standing, and I was definitely the eldest standing. The others looked younger than my kids.

If the Israeli government is going to permit Arabs to travel on these buses, they must make sure there are enough buses on the roads for all!!

Mobs of Arabs on Jewish Buses

There has been a lot in the news about whether or not Arabs should be allowed to travel in Jewish buses. There are Arab buses, at least in the Jerusalem area, beautiful new white ones of all sizes. It's rare for Jews to go near them even when it would be convenient. But the Ariel buses are a different story. Yesterday when I traveled from Tel Aviv's Tel Hashomer Hospital back to Ariel in order to get home to Shiloh I found out just how many Arabs travel on the same buses as Jews.

It would be no exaggeration at all to estimate that easily three quarters 3/4, yes, that many, of the passengers on the 86 from Belinson Hospital in Petach Tikvah, where I had changed from the 87 from Tel Hashomer, were Arabs.

There aren't security checks at the "barrier" in the direction of Ariel, unlike towards Petach Tikvah/Tel Aviv etc. And, unlike the "city line" Hizma "barrier" at the Jerusalem border, security inspectors do enter the buses going towards the shefela, coastal area.

By the time we entered Ariel, the bus was almost totally empty. The only passengers were Jews, and I was one of the maybe two who got off at the last stop by the university.

And just in case you are wondering. I sat in the front seat. There was a Jewish woman who sat next to me until the Rosh Ha'ayin stop. Then an Arab, who was clearly a laborer, about 50 years old sat next to me. We each sat as far apart as possible. That was fine until he fell asleep. I had to nudge him by knocking my bag onto his to wake him up and stay away. And, yes, I'd do the same to any man.

B"H, thank G-d nothing unpleasant happened to me, and I didn't hear of anything while traveling. But as a woman of my age, I'm not a target.

"Sister?" More of "My Adventures with Arabs"

I think that this should be a new periodic "series" on this blog, My "Adventures with Arabs." As many of you know, I have much more contact with Arabs than most Israelis. I work in Yafiz, Sha'ar Binyamin where Jews and Arabs work and shop together.

The gulf between Jews and Arabs is much smaller in may world than in the world of many other Israelis, including the Extreme Left. That's especially because I meet ordinary Arabs, the relatively apolitical who shop in Yafiz and Rami Levy because of the quality goods and low prices. And this isn't a paid advertisement. 

Money does make the world go around. 

It's the nature of man to put a price on everything, whether it's barter or actual money.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has said that economic development in the Arab world is the key to peace, but unfortunately when he's in power, like now, he forgets that principle.

Recently I had another of my unforgettable meetings with an Arab customer at Yafiz. As is my norm, I first speak to the Arab customers in Hebrew and then try English if they look at me with blank uncomprehending stares. This Arab woman, with her hair and neck covered in the Muslim way was of my daughters' generation and really perked up when she heard me speak English.

"Your English is so good.  Where did you learn it?"
"America, and yours?"
"Me, too, in America." 

And then she gave me a quick summary of her life and why she is now living "nearby," which is also how I described my home location.

A Jewish Israeli man watched mesmerized by the scene of the two of us, obviously Jewish and Muslim, chatting away in such a friendly way. He just had to comment on how surprising it seemed to him. To me he spoke Hebrew, and to her he spoke Arabic, and we had this very amusing three-way, trilingual conversation. The young Arab-Muslim woman kept referring to me as her "sister."

I found this very interesting. It was obvious that this woman felt more in common with me and my Americanism than she felt with the other Arab women where she now lives. I did say that if the politicians would just leave all of us alone, we'd have peace, and she agreed with that.

True peace will develop slowly between people, like a very long pregnancy. But this sort of "pregnancy" won't require a painful birth. It will be more of a metamorphosis. Negotiations and treaties will stop or seriously delay the process. So let's send all those politicians, negotiators, mediators etc back to where they come from and let the slow process begin or continue. It will take a long time, so be patient. Our great-grandchildren or later generations will enjoy it. 

Politicians just bring war, hatred and chaos.