The next time I am in Jerusalem I can't wait to go with the light rail and one of the main reason is that I never had enough time to see the whole area from the West - Mount Herzl - to the East - including the Palestinian neighborhood of Beit Hanina and Shuafat.
Before starting to write the article I read a lot of news and information and media reports following the public inauguration of the line, two weeks ago - on August 18, following the terrorist attacks from Eilat. I found the arguments that in this way Israel is outlining its "right" over East Jerusalem - no need to outline anything - but also the high dangers of terrorists attacks - security measures were tested several times in advance and security personnel was provided at each station and inside each car.
Theoretically, the distance from one end to another should take 42 minutes, but during the first days, it took around 65 minutes. The tram was on trial for almost eight month: a modern machine through the old buildings from Jaffa street, running empty - with the exception of some VIPs visiting Jerusalem invited to take a ride - almost every 10 minutes. Actually, when I arrived in the city after a couple of months of absence, it took me a couple of trams to realize that waiting for the ride could be a matter of months.
The operations took a long time: the plans were disclosed in 1995, when Ehud Olmert was mayor. Optimistically, he announced that the city will enjoy the pleasures of the light train in five years. But meanwhile, there were some technical, political and religious problems delaying the advancement in the desired pace. The costs increased - but also the prices of the properties situated across the rail line - including the Arab properties - and the discovery of an ancient bath house and of a monastery from the 6th century imposed modifications of the original plans.
After the inauguration day, there were several problems still creating difficulties: the ticketing system (operated by the French company Alstom), the stoplight programming system and the communications system. But during the first day of operation, Orthodox and Secular Jews, Arabs and Jews, tourists and locals, all together hurried to see how it works.
And, at the end of the day it will be an occasion to better know and understand each other.
Optimism was never my strong point, but probably it's the influence of the coming month of Elul.
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