As you've probably noticed, all my Israel related photographs and bus stories have mostly been about Egged, which is the second largest bus operator in the world and operates most intercity service in Israel, as well as intracity service in Jerusalem and Haifa (the country's largest and third largest cities), among other places. Also, I've shared some experiences with Dan, which operates in and around Tel Aviv (Israel's second largest city). However, there is a system of bus lines, usually referred to as "Arab buses", that operate in East Jerusalem and also to various points in the West Bank. This afternoon, I went with a friend and a friend of his to Bethlehem, which is only a few miles south of Jerusalem yet seems much further on account of needing to go through a checkpoint to get there and the fact that life on the other side of the checkpoint is very different than it is here in Jerusalem, where I am writing this from.
The Arab buses, for the most part, are small vans like Mercedes-Benz Sprinters. However, they also have some Volvo over the road coaches. The buses seem to be permanently assigned to their routes, in the sense that they have the route numbers painted on the side of the bus, and I've never seen any sort of deviation from this. Most of the buses also have printed signs in the window to indicate the route number and major destinations in both Arabic and English. The Volvo coaches also have LED signs that display the route number in the front, side, and rear windows (and I even saw one bus at the East Jerusalem Bus Station that had 5? on its sign, which was interesting since ? is a Hebrew letter, not an Arabic one.
The East Jerusalem Bus Station is a bit of a scene. I didn't really explore it extensively, but it seems to be a U shaped driveway where the buses just go through and you have to somehow find yours in the chaos that exists there. Being easily labled as tourists, we were immediately asked if we wanted to go to Bethlehem, and the next 124 bus was immediately pointed out to us (though we knew we wanted that route anyway, the gesture was appreciated). It was a Mercedes Sprinter which looked to be quite run down, with a number of interior signs with messages such as "No Smoking" in Hebrew and others in Arabic. The stop requested sign was in English however. (For the record, I do speak and read Hebrew fairly well, but my Arabic is limited to numbers and being able to say "thank you" and "no thank you", enough to get me through Cairo and Luxor for 6 days back in November). The fare was 4.50 NIS. As a comparison, Egged rides in Jerusalem cost 6.20 NIS, and 1 USD is equal to about 3.75 NIS. Like on Egged and other Israeli buses, the driver makes change, and we were given a receipt, which was collected by a man who boarded the bus about halfway through the trip (unfortunate, I wanted a souvineer). Most of the other passengers were Palestinian women, and we were the only Westerners. There were no standees at any point on this trip, though I've seen them on passing buses, which I can't imagine being a pleasant trip since these buses aren't that large. Israelis never ride the Arab buses, though Arabs do ride the Israeli buses.
The trip was uneventful once we got going, though we backed up (!) to leave the bus station somehow instead of going around the loop. The bus uses the same bus lanes that Israeli buses use on Derech Hevron and the same bus stops as well. However, whereas Egged buses usually stop at any stop where passengers are waiting, the Arab buses have to be flagged down.
My understanding is that the bus used to go all the way into the center of Bethlehem, but now, it just ends at the checkpoint at the border between Jerusalem and Bethlehem, and passengers must get off at that point to walk through the checkpoint. (There is another route that follows a similar route, and ends in Beit Jala, next to Bethlehem, where passengers disembark at a different checkpoint, show their papers, and then reboard the same bus to continue their trip.) I'm not sure what public transit exists on the Bethlehem side of the checkpoint, though there does seem to be some; I've always used taxis or been on chartered buses when I've been in Bethlehem. On our way back to Jerusalem, we walked about 0.7 miles from the checkpoint to the nearest Egged stop and returned on that bus. (There is a stop at the checkpoint on a route that doesn't come all that frequently, so naturally, a bus on that route passed us when we were a third of the way to the more frequently served stop).
No photos, I didn't have a chance nor did I want to draw attention to myself at the East Jerusalem bus station, and taking photos next to the checkpoint, which is an Israeli military installation, is just asking for trouble. I've also never really been all that interested in photographing the Arab buses in general, and rarely am in parts of Jerusalem where they operate. However, the experience was worthwhile and quite interesting, and I hope you've enjoyed reading about it.
Thank you for the narrative, it was very enlightening. As a civil rights advocate I found it intolerable to read that a supposedly advanced nation like Israel would tolerate the existence of different bus lines for its citizens based on their ethnic and religious backgrounds. Historically in the United States these were called "separate but equal" public facilities based on race which were legal until 1954 when the US Supreme Court ruled that they were unconstitutional. As you know the separate public facilities were certainly separate but never equal and black people never enjoyed the same level of service as white persons. It appears from your description that Israeli Arabs do not enjoy the same level of service as Israeli Jews. "War is the absence of reason" so until human beings are able to reason together there will never be peace or coexistence.
I hope you also find many of the actions of the Palestinians and other Arab countries towards Israel since the State of Israel declared its independence in 1948, including starting multiple wars that led to Israel's conquering of what would otherwise not be Israeli territory today, to be intolerable and lacking reason as well, and realize that there are issues on ALL sides of this conflict.
That said, let me try to explain how things here actually work. I don't know any history on the Arab bus lines, and I don't think you'll find much, if anything, on the Internet about them in English. No one here who I know even knows the name of the Arab bus company, nor do we have any way of finding out what it is since it is only printed in Arabic on the buses; no one I know here knows Arabic. My understanding is that the Arab buses do receive government funding in the same way Egged and other Israeli bus companies do. There is also no law that says Arabs must ride their bus line while the Israelis ride Egged, or vice versa. It is widely believed that by forcing the Palestinians to build up their own infrastructure for their own state, which would include transportation, will help the peace process significantly and ensure Israel's security. Also, it is extremely important that this infrastructure be built by the Palestinians themselves and not the Israelis. When Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005, the army built greenhouses and other infrastructure as the groundwork for economic activity, and the "Zionist" greenhouses were immediately blown up. Gaza has no infrastructure and the Hamas terrorists who run that territory have no interest in building any, unless you consider the rockets that they fire on to southern Israel. If past history is any indication, Israeli run buses would be stoned and vandalized, if not blown up, and Arabs would refuse to ride them. Buses that operate to Jewish settlements in the West Bank (a topic for another time) are all bulletproof and bomb resistant to protect the security of the passengers on board. Why should the Israelis dictate where and when transit lines that serve Arab populations run, or purchase the vehicles for these services? Also, Israelis are not allowed in Area A of the West Bank under any circumstance, so having Israeli run or operated lines to those areas is problematic. The current setup seems optimal to me. Therefore, to say that there is separate but equal service is a bit of a stretch in my mind, since it is de facto separation, whereas in the US there were actually laws and courts upholding separation. All services are open to anyone (aside from Israelis who are forbiden to enter Area A), and the services can be run and organized to meet the needs of the people who actually need and use them. I can assure you the Arabs would be very upset if the Israelis ran their transportation services to suit the needs of the latter, which is what would almost certainly happen.
Another point of clarification: The lines are called Arab bus lines, but that doesn't mean that the passengers are necessarily Israeli Arabs. Israeli Arabs usually refers to Arabs who accepted Israeli citizenship when it was offered to them following the creation of the state, and they generally have no regrets about doing so (although that isn't to say they aren't ever discriminated against or that they don't face other issues). They even vote and there are Israeli Arabs serving in Parliament (one of the reasons Israel is NOT an Apartheid state, because if it was, these Arabs would not be able to have positions in government). Palestinians were also offered Israeli citizenship and refused it. Arabs in East Jerusalem were not offered Israeli citizenship, however, something which many (rightly, in my opinion) are critical of the Israeli government for doing.
If you want a true separate but equal case on the buses here, there are groups here trying to legalize the separation of sexes on buses in Jerusalem and to other destinations with large Haredi populations, where men would be required to sit up front and women would be required to sit in back, and the government seems to be intent on allowing this practice, which is a "custom" of sorts on some routes, to become legalized.
Thank you for the clarification on your "Arab Bus Line" post. My comment was intended solely and deliberately to elicit a clarification of how these bus lines operated because these details were not contained in your original post. My comment did not mention Hamas, the Palestinians, the 1967 War or apartheid because this type of discussion belongs in another forum. The statement that "War is the absence of reason" applies equally to any party involved in a war, in my opinion. Perhaps at some time in the future you and I can devise a plan for public transit in that area that we could present to Netanyahu and Clinton that could serve as a blueprint for peace?
One doesn't need to mention Hamas, Palestinians, the 1967 War, or Apartheid to express or convey an anti-Israel sentiment. The language you used is frequently used by anti-Israel activists and other "liberals" in their arguments against Israel's actions or even its right to exist, and while it may have not been your intention to make such comments or sentiments, unfortunately, it is necessary to respond in the way that I did. There are many people out there who have no issue ignoring the Palestinian and Arab contributions to the conflict, and failure to do so will not bring about lasting and secure peace.