The Palestine-Israel issue has always seemed a bit surreal. It boggles the mind that after everything humanity has gone through to achieve civil liberties for all, from Haitians dying to outlaw slavery and preferring poverty over colonization, to millions dying over the world in wars of independence, from North America and the Civil Rights movement to South Africa and the abolishment of the Apartheid, we condone or at least allow Jim Crow-like laws to exist in the world. It is astonishing that we turn a blind eye to the abuses of what we have established are the basic human rights to equality and human dignity.

Recently, the department of transportation in the West Bank in Israel has implemented a line of buses exclusive for Palestinian workers with special permits to enter and work in Israel controlled territories. Just the idea of this type of policy existing should turn a couple of heads, this is the type of thing we see as part of an unfortunate but distant past, along with white-only jobs and non-white drinking fountains.

Official reasons given for this policy seem benevolent enough; The ministry has stated that, "The new lines are not separate lines for Palestinians but rather two designated lines meant to improve the services offered to Palestinian workers who enter Israel through Eyal Crossing.” The bus lines are a substitute for the overpriced alternatives — illegal, unregulated and unreliable private shuttles — currently used that charge around $6 dollars per trip, as opposed to the $1 charged in public transport. Lastly, they are also designed to help alleviate congestion, which would create an improvement.

In response to claims of segregation and racism, the Israeli government has also stated that Palestinians are free to access regular lines as well. However, although there is currently no law stating otherwise, reports from human rights group Checkpoint Watch state that on more than one occasion, Arab passengers have been forced out of regular lines and told to only use the designated buses. They have also been denied initial access by drivers, forcing them to walk to their destinations. Drivers have reported that in the future, “Palestinians will be asked to board their own buses," and more checkpoints will be introduced along these routes. Interesting as well is that the new lines are only being promoted through pamphlets in Arabic and in Palestinian areas of the West Bank.

Despite the abundance of critics, there is worrisome support on both sides for this segregation. On the Israeli side, citizens claim security reasons for the need of this policy. These security concerns arise not because Palestinians despise the Jewish population, but because of the angry Palestinian reactions to their substandard quality of life, feeling of disenfranchisement and lack of equal opportunities and, of course, the historical burden of being denied international recognition as a state. The Palestinian support for this policy is best summed up by Haroun Hamdan, who said riding buses with Jewish settlers has become so unpleasant that the Palestinians prefer to have their own buses. Even if we chose to ignore the utter violation of basic human dignity, these laws only patch the issues on the short term and worsen then in the long term. On the other hand, Hamdan’s relief is saddening. The fact that segregation comes as a relief is indicative of the extent to which racism is plaguing the region to the point where people prefer to be outcasts to coexisting with those who will actively remind them of their status as non-citizens and threaten their basic right to human dignity.

Both Arab and Israeli human rights groups seem to be concerned that this is one more policy toward the permanent inclusion of the West Bank into Israel or at least a move toward the preventing the two state solution.

A report in The Atlantic states that this law is “not a big deal” as it is nothing but a symptom of a larger problem, which I could not have said better. The problem here is one that stems into the very root of the Israeli treatment of Arabs. When Rosa Parks chose to sit in the front of a bus, when the Little Rock Nine gave their first step into that eerie doorway they were doing so as citizens, marginalized and ostracized, hated and disrespected but citizens nonetheless. In Israel there seems to be no pretention of treating Arabs as citizens. Whether the bus lines stay is not an important issue. If the Israeli government continues to both block any attempt at a reasonable two state solution or accept Arabs inside territories they’ve conquered as citizens, as long as we sit and watch and thus condone these actions, we, as humans, can never claim to have surpassed racism and those voices we pride ourselves in celebrating have not yet been fully heard. Why must we limit our attempts at equality and fairness to national borders, why can’t we hold as self-evident the idea that all men are created equal regardless of where they are? In the century of globalization it is no longer enough to dream only of equality in our countries but in our world. Nelson Mandela’s words resonate in these times: “After climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb.” Indeed, we have conquered inequality of the grossest kind, we have established as a basic need the right for dignity and created the notion of human rights. It is now time to truly implement these ideals, to work with our enemies because only then do they become our partners.