It's not what the Jewish majority likes to believe.  A common Jewish Israeli criticism of Arab Knesset members is that they do a disservice to their constituents by focusing on high politics, mainly the Palestinian issue, instead of dealing with bread-and-butter economic issues that would really help them. (There may be something self-serving about this line of criticism, but who knows?) Last week I went to Jedeida-Makker, an Israeli Arab village a couple of miles inland from Acre, to hear Balad MK Haneen Zoabi give a campaign speech. The residents, including the local council head, indeed told her that she…

Lately, I have become sickeningly addicted to playing Monopoly. I don’t know what form of capitalist virus has invaded my brain but it has made me feverish for the game. (The iPad application is pretty impressive, I should add). Over the course of more than a handful of tackles with the computer player, I have developed a foolproof tactic. Control the railways and you win. Let them go to your opponent and you’re toast. Looking at this morning’s brand new train strike, it occurs to me that the managers of Israel Railways feel the same way. If I had a…

The CEO of the state-owned Israel Railways has rejected calls for announcements of upcoming train stations to be made in Arabic, in addition to Hebrew and English By Issa Edward Boursheh Regrettably, the CEO of Israel Railway has chosen to ignore calls for train stations to be announced in Arabic, claiming it would “make the train ride noisy.” Currently, announcements are in Hebrew and sometimes in English. The CEO's claim about the purported noise would have made sense if there were no announcementds at all, with passengers forced to rely solely on signs in the train stations and the trains. That…