Today when residents say Barkat has divided Jerusalem, they mean that he has recently divided it into neighborhoods based on the identity of their residents: He has declared some of the neighborhoods Haredi, that is, ultra-Orthodox, and others pluralistic – meaning they’re intended for secular Jewish folk and adherents of religious Zionism.
Not that Barkat has forbidden secular people to live in Bayit Vegan or Ramot. He is simply allocating school buildings in those neighborhoods that until now had been part of the state-religious education system to the Haredim, and transferring students from national-religious families to schools in neighborhoods that under his plan are slated to remain “pluralistic,” where secular and national-religious citizens live in harmony. Because members of the secular and national-religious communities are capable of living together, whereas living with Haredim is a different matter.
For Haredim, coexistence actually means forcing the other side to adopt their way of life. It’s never a case of ultra-Orthodox allowing people who aren’t part of their community to go on pursuing their life as usual. The few secular people who still live in the Ramat Eshkol neighborhood (which on Barkat’s map is intended to be Haredi, although when it was built, after 1967, was anticipated to be a totally secular area) have already become habituated to shutting off their radios and televisions on Shabbat, and getting around on foot and not by car. Their behavior isn’t motivated by consideration for beliefs they don’t hold. The motivation is fear. Because spitting, cursing and stone throwing are not considered desecration of the Sabbath.
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