JERUSALEM — Six Palestinian activists were arrested Tuesday when they attempted to enter Jerusalem on buses designated for Israelis alone.
The group was hoping to bring attention to Israeli restrictions on Palestinians’ freedom of movement in the West Bank by invoking the spirit of American civil-rights activists who rode buses in the South in the 1960s in protest of racial discrimination.
“We are like them, exactly like them,” said Huwaida Arraf, who holds dual American and Palestinian citizenship and was one of the organizers of Tuesday’s protest. “They saw an inequality. They saw segregation and racism, and they fought it through nonviolent actions. We want to show how unfair the Israeli system is, the system we are forced to live under.”
For the six activists, including 37-year-old Badiya Dwaik, it was the first time they had boarded the buses they’d seen pass by their homes their entire lives.
“I want to show them that as a human being I should be given equal rights,” Dwaik said.
Israel operates two bus lines in the West Bank that run through the mountains and into Jerusalem. Only Israelis, however, are allowed to use the bus system. Palestinians have developed their own makeshift public-transportation system using minivans and small buses.
Israelis say there are valid reasons for the restrictions. Just five years ago, Palestinian suicide bombers regularly targeted Israeli buses.
“I am scared of them, the Palestinians. I just don’t feel I can trust them,” said Margalit Amit. “Maybe these ones are OK, who knows? But there are others with bad intentions, who would take the opportunity to kill and murder. Who is to say they would not board the Israeli buses too?”
