Transportation

Can Light Rail Still Unite Jerusalem?

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.
Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat (left) speaks with The Atlantic's Jeffrey Goldberg at CityLab 2014 in Los Angeles. Melanie Leigh Wilbur

"When it rains, it rains on everyone."

That was the answer from Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat to one of a number of thorny questions put to him today in Los Angeles. Questions on why he thinks an independent Palestine will never call East Jerusalem its capital. On why Arabs decline to participate in Jerusalem's municipal government. On how city zoning and planning works when the ramifications are global, religious, and historic.