Transportation has long shaped Jerusalem’s daily life and ties to the region. Before borders and barriers, networks of trains, buses, and planes linked the city to its surrounding areas, until Israel’s establishment redrew the map and fractured the access and mobility.
Yesterday’s Mobility
In the early 20th century, pilgrims, merchants, and families still arrived in Jerusalem on camels and horses, just as they had for centuries. The rhythm of travel began to change when engines replaced animals, and new forms of transport reshaped mobility, boosting Jerusalem’s economy and its status as a cosmopolitan city. The first of these was the Jaffa–Jerusalem railway, which opened in 1892 and stitched the Mediterranean coast to Jerusalem’s Holy City with steel and steam. Built by a French company under Ottoman rule, the line offered a faster and more reliable route for both passengers and trade.1
The first motor car entered Jerusalem in 1908, and by the 1930s, regular bus and shared taxi services connected the city with surrounding towns and villages.2 The Jerusalem International Airport in the Palestinian village of Qalandiya added an air link to major regional cities. It was initially established as a military airfield by the British Mandate authorities in the 1920s and later served as a civil airport for Palestinian Jerusalem under Jordanian rule. Its single runway and modest terminal connected Jerusalem to Beirut, Cairo, and beyond. However, its life was short-lived, as it came under Israeli occupation in 1967.3
These networks once allowed Palestinians to travel freely from Jerusalem to major urban centers across Palestine, including Jaffa, Haifa, Nablus, Gaza, and further abroad. But like all aspects of Palestinian life, these connections were severed by the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, when many routes were cut off, and again after Israel’s 1967 occupation of East Jerusalem, which placed East Jerusalem under full Israeli control. Subsequently, Israeli authorities took over the airport and renamed it “Atarot Airport”; it operated only intermittently, serving limited domestic and charter flights.
Today’s Fragmented Routes
In the decades since, the construction of the Separation Wall coupled with an extensive checkpoint system and segregated “apartheid roads” have further fragmented movement.4 Journeys that were once routine are now subject to permits, delays, and restrictions, with many destinations becoming effectively unreachable for most Palestinians.
Today, travel for Palestinians—both inside and outside Palestine—is defined by the loss of mobility and freedom of movement. Qalandiya Airport was permanently shut down in 2001, but rendered nonfunctional since 1967, ending Jerusalem’s direct air links to the region and the wider world, and plans are in motion to convert it into a settlement.5 The Jaffa–Jerusalem railway ceased passenger service in 1998; its historic station has since been repurposed as a cultural and leisure center.6 Many Palestinian bus routes have disappeared, and those that still remain must navigate checkpoints and closures, making the journey to and from the West Bank almost impossible.
For international travel, Palestinians often face lengthy, costly, and uncertain routes, relying on Israeli-controlled crossings and special permits, or detours through Jordan and other neighboring countries. The result of these unjustifiable transportation changes is a system that restricts mobility and isolates Palestinians from each other and the wider world.