Americans who know their history, know of the Supreme Court decision of 1896 called "Plessy v Ferguson" in which it was decided 7-1 that "separate but equal" services were legal. In this case, African-Americans and whites could travel on the same train with different cars assigned to each. In other words segregation was legal.
But this train that is to run in Israel and across part of the occupied territories will be for Israelis only. Palestinians, part of whose land is being taken for the route, will not be allowed to ride. Here's a map.
In 1948, there were two Palestinian towns in this area but they were erased by Israel long ago, so no need to hold things up on that account. Those towns are truly gone, yet the Palestinians themselves are invisible to the Israeli government.
For example, the train route has been altered more or less to minimize objections from Israelis living along it. Palestinian objections have been entirely ignored. This isn't surprising given that Israeli settlers take Palestinian land on an almost daily basis without government objection.
A group of activists, both Palestinian and Israeli called Coalition of Women for Peace has produced a full report that isn't long and has many illustrations (like the map I used above). I recommend you look it over. The construction is moving right along.
Americans are rightly ashamed of Plessy v Ferguson for the terrible example it set, denying rights to one group of Americans. But at least that segregated group could still ride the train. For Palestinians, used to being denied the use of roads in their land, this train being exclusively for Israelis will be nothing new.
But why, fellow Americans, are we pouring money into a country that does this? As I've said before, have we no shame?
