Palestine: Refugees and Minorities

The wall now dividing Berlin is not unique: a similar structure runs across the city of Jerusalem, separating Arabs and Jews in spirit as well as space. The Arabs consider it temporary since they dream of the reconquest of Israel; the Jews accommodate themselves to it and adopt a wait-and-see attitude.

The main topic in the Jordanian section of Jerusalem is the chance of returning one day—soon—to the “other side,” after “the United States ceases to support Israel.” The Palestinian Arabs, even those who always lived in what is now Jordanian territory, think of themselves as exiles deprived of their independence, as a minority among their more primitive Jordanian hosts. On the streets and highways one meets them as construction workers, farm laborers, cab drivers, small artisans and tourist guides.

TM

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Thomas Molnar

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The wall now dividing Berlin is not unique: a similar structure runs across the city of Jerusalem, separating Arabs and Jews in spirit as well as space. The Arabs consider it temporary since they dream of the reconquest of Israel; the Jews accommodate themselves to it and adopt a wait-and-see attitude.

The main topic in the Jordanian section of Jerusalem is the chance of returning one day—soon—to the “other side,” after “the United States ceases to support Israel.” The Palestinian Arabs, even those who always lived in what is now Jordanian territory, think of themselves as exiles deprived of their independence, as a minority among their more primitive Jordanian hosts. On the streets and highways one meets them as construction workers, farm laborers, cab drivers, small artisans and tourist guides.