A transit line that was hailed as the dream of a unified city is now on the brink, following waves of domestic unrest over the summer.
Barkat answered questions about his unique station among the pantheon of mayors. He fielded just one question that might've been meant for any other city leader: Can transit unite the city? That's one goal of many public transit systems, after all. Yet even on this topic, Jerusalem stands alone.
"Two and a half months after the start of civil unrest in East Jerusalem, the light rail line that crosses the city’s neighborhoods and ethnic communities has become its soft underbelly," wrote one Haaretz reporter earlier this month. Compare that to the newspaper's conventional wisdom two years ago, just short of a year after the system got its start: "It arrived a bit late and a bit over budget, but the Jerusalem Light Rail is a big, sleek step in addressing the holy city's hellish traffic."
What's happening now, Barkat told Goldberg, isn't sustainable. Vandalism has cost the city hundreds of thousands of dollars in repairs—and millions counting lost revenue. Yet the deaths compromising peace continue to mount. Israeli special forces recently killed two Palestinian men who were suspects in the June murders of three Israeli teens, deaths that led Israel to launch a 50-day war in Gaza. Deadly reprisals threaten to derail talks between Israel and Hamas in Cairo—and more locally, light-rail service in Jerusalem.
"We’re a democracy. Anyone can demonstrate as much as he wants," Barkat said, referring to the protests targeting CityPass. "When people start throwing rocks, that’s a danger."
The city has turned to drones to try to deter violence away from light-rail infrastructure.