Taxi (archives)
Omer Hacohen
Gilo. An extreme neighborhood?
Photo: Avi Ohayon, GPO
Jerusalem taxi drivers against new Arab boss
Eighteen drivers decide to leave Gilo station after learning of identity of new owner: A businessman from east Jerusalem. 'We have been stabbed in the back. How are we expected to work with him?' one of them says
Eighteen of 23 drivers in a Jerusalem taxi station have decided to resign after learning that their station is about to be sold to an Arab businessman from east Jerusalem.
When the drivers learned of the impending agreement, uproar broke out in the station. The drivers, most of them supporters of right-wing parties, found it difficult to accept the fact that an Israeli Arab would run the station and give them orders. Eighteen of them even decided to establish their own station.
Gilo Taxis is one of the capital's oldest cab stations. Its drivers have been serving the city's residents for nearly 25 years. The station's owner, Avi Gabay, recently experienced some financial difficulties and decided to sell the station to an Arab businessman from the neighborhood of Jabel Mukaber.
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Eli Katsav, who has been working in the station since 1982, is one of Gilo Taxis' most veteran drivers. He says the drivers may decide to buy the station together.
"This sale is unacceptable to us," he adds. "We live in an extreme neighborhood. Everyone here is affiliated with the Right and we're all devoted Beitar Jerusalem (football team) fans. Our current decision is not to stay in the station."
The drivers' uprising is being led by H., who has been working in the station for 20 years.
"An Arab won't be my owner," he says. "The surprising thing is that the previous owner, who wouldn’t even accept a receipt from an Arab passenger and hardly ever agreed to drive Arab passengers, has suddenly changed completely and sold to an Arab. How are we expected to work with him? He will be our owner?"
Danny, who has been working as a taxi driver for 18 years and joined the Gilo station 10 years ago, defines the situation as "impossible".
"This is a sensitive situation. The residents are ardent Beitar fans, while the new owner comes from the village of the terrorists who carried out the three recent attacks in Jerusalem.
"Who knows what will happen. There will probably be a big mess. This is why we have decided we had better leave as soon as possible. We feel the previous owner betrayed us, stabbed us in the back."
Gabay, the owner, is unmoved by the drivers' protest. "I have experienced some difficult things in the past year, but none of those who are angry at me now because I'm selling the station rushed to help me," he says.
"The deal has yet to be finalized, and whoever wants to can come and negotiate. As for the buyer being an Arab, I don’t care. I'm not looking for faults. He is an Israeli citizen, and therefore I'm negotiating with him."
