Bus Encounter

Today as I was riding the bus back to school from the Arab shuk in Haifa the bus made a sudden stop. The bus was especially crowded that day, and there seemed to be an abundance of elderly Arab women sitting in the front, all wearing the same white Hijab and black dress. I was standing in the middle section holding on to my groceries and the railing. When the bus abruptly stopped everyone on the bus was jolted forward, I watched as a few of my apples rolled to the front. I also noticed that a young girl, fell down in front of the Arab women. The girl was Jewish, (I had heard her speak Hebrew earlier on the phone) but when she fell all the women held out their hands to catch her. Once back on her feet she began crying and holding her wrist. One of the women who had caught her asked her what was wrong, I couldn't understand the full length of the conversation but it looked like the girl's wrist was bothering her. The women began conversing among themselves in rapid Arabic until one of them produced a cold water bottle. The water bottle was quickly passed toward the girl, who by now, was sharing the seat with two of the women. They sat with her until their stop, rubbing her back and speaking to her.

This is why I love Haifa, I feel that this would never have happened in Jerusalem, but in Haifa, women are mothers before they are Arab, Muslim, Palestinian, Israeli, Jew, or Zionist.