Podcast Summary:

The New Yorker Radio Hour – “For a Palestinian Candidate, a Contested Election in Jerusalem”
Host: David Remnick
Reporter: Bernard Avishai
Air date: August 31, 2018
Produced by: WNYC Studios and The New Yorker

Overview

This episode offers an in-depth look at the candidacy of Ramadan Dabash, an Arab community leader, in Jerusalem’s city council elections. Ramadan’s campaign is a remarkable act of political courage—he challenges a powerful taboo against Palestinian participation in Israeli municipal politics, hoping to secure better infrastructure and services for East Jerusalem. The episode delves into the complexity of Jerusalem's demographics, the tangled alliances behind Ramadan’s campaign, and what his run reveals about prospects for Israeli-Palestinian coexistence.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

The Unusual Candidacy of Ramadan Dabash

• Background

  • Ramadan Dabash is the mukhtar (community leader) of Sur Baher, a Palestinian neighborhood in southern Jerusalem.
  • He is both traditional (married to four wives, 12 children) and modern (an engineer who studied in Israel and teaches in Israeli colleges).
  • Transcript timestamp: [01:12]

• Significance of His Campaign

  • His run breaks a longstanding Palestinian taboo against voting or running in Jerusalem municipal elections, often seen as legitimizing Israeli rule.
  • “Ramadan Dabash is taking a huge risk in his own community… at a time when Israeli-Palestinian relationships are at an absolute low.” – David Remnick [00:35]

Dabash’s Platform: Infrastructure & Services

• Core Issues

  • Focused on basic municipal services: obtaining building permits, improving education, building roads, and creating recreational facilities.
  • “Many of buildings here and Arab places here because they don’t have a license for building permit… We don’t have roads… We don’t have enough service because that we need to change our mind and to start in the first step here to be inside the municipality.” – Ramadan Dabash [03:01]

• Track Record

  • As a local leader, he has previously secured significant infrastructure funds—about 300 million shekels over 3–4 years—but calculates that billions are needed for adequate living conditions.
  • “We need 3 or 4 billion shekels here in the east bank to be a good life here.” – Ramadan Dabash [04:22]

Political Challenges & Unlikely Alliances

• Cooperation with Orthodox Rightwing Israelis

  • Ramadan’s key political advisor, Gilad, is an Orthodox, rightwing Likud activist, supportive of the settlement movement—a mixing of opposites driven by shared practical interests.
  • “It’s not usual that people wearing knitted yarmulkes are interested in helping to elect Palestinians to the municipal council of Jerusalem.” – Bernard Avishai [06:57]
  • Gilad’s pragmatic vision: “If you want Jerusalem united, Jerusalem is not just lands, Jerusalem is also people living in these lands.” [07:33]

• Tensions in Long-Term Vision

  • Gilad envisions Jewish Israelis maintaining overall control, with Palestinians gaining increased local autonomy.
  • Dabash wants full equality and freedom: “I don’t want to be in the future in a big jail like Gaza… The problem here is the people first of all to be equal like the Jewish people and also to be in the united Jerusalem and the Palestinian to be part of this united.” – Ramadan Dabash [10:09]

The Broader Political Context

• Integration and Economic Reality

  • Many East Jerusalem Palestinians work in West Jerusalem and Israel proper, including as teachers, engineers, and in medical professions.
  • “All the people working in the Israeli sites… many doctors, anesthesiologists, nurses, and pharmacists… coming from East Jerusalem to work in the West.” – Bernard Avishai [13:41]

• Trump Administration & US Embassy Move

  • The US Embassy's move to Jerusalem “had the perverse effect of mobilizing Jerusalem Arabs recognizing that they have to start acting and not simply wait…” – Bernard Avishai [14:13]

Personal Risks and Stakes

• Dabash’s Courage and Motivation
  • His campaign is dangerous; he risks threats from all sides—Hamas for his secularism, Fatah for perceived collaboration, rival families, and Israelis for being an Arab candidate.
  • “His car could get blown up by Hamas because of his secular politics, by Fatah because of his collaborationist reputation, by another family in Sur Baher because of his presumption, and by Israelis because he’s an Arab.” – H, Eliezer Yari (journalist) [17:11]
  • “Look, I am, yes, I am afraid for my life, but I don’t afraid because I am now 50 years my age… I have to do something for my children, all the children from the Arab side, to change the situation.” – Ramadan Dabash [17:34]

The Election’s Meaning for Palestinians

• Changing Attitudes

  • Polls suggest a shift in Palestinian public opinion: only 14% of East Jerusalem’s Arabs oppose running in elections, while 58% approve.
  • “A lot of Palestinians are beginning to see that this is their fate and they had better make the best of it.” – Bernard Avishai [18:54]

• Strategic Calculation

  • Even for those who aspire to a Palestinian state, holding council seats might not block future sovereignty—and may help prepare for it.
  • “It does in a way imply resignation, but it doesn’t really give away the game and in some ways prepares the ground for the only realistic kind of two state solution which you will eventually have.” – Bernard Avishai [19:22]

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “Ramadan Dabash is taking a huge risk in his own community… at a time when Israeli-Palestinian relationships are at an absolute low.” – David Remnick [00:35]
• “We need 3 or 4 billion shekels here in the east bank to be a good life here.” – Ramadan Dabash [04:22]
• “If you want Jerusalem united, Jerusalem is not just lands, Jerusalem is also people living in these lands.” – Gilad (advisor) [07:33]
• “I want to be freedom first of all… I am a human like the Jewish people.” – Ramadan Dabash [10:54]
• “His car could get blown up by Hamas… by Fatah… by Israelis…” – Eliezer Yari [17:11]
• “I have to do something for my children… to change the situation.” – Ramadan Dabash [17:34]
• “A lot of Palestinians are beginning to see that this is their fate and they had better make the best of it.” – Bernard Avishai [18:54]
• “It does in a way imply resignation, but it doesn’t really give away the game and in some ways prepares the ground for the only realistic kind of two state solution which you will eventually have.” – Bernard Avishai [19:22]

Important Segment Timestamps

• Introduction & Ramadan’s Background: [00:09–02:12]
• Dabash’s Platform & Local Needs: [02:44–04:34]
• Rightwing Orthodox Advisor Joins Campaign: [06:41–08:01]
• Divergent Political Visions of Future: [09:06–10:44]
• Confederation Ideas & Integration: [12:16–13:41]
• Impact of US Embassy Move: [14:03–15:05]
• Personal Risks of Candidacy: [16:41–18:07]
• Changing Palestinian Attitudes toward Participation: [18:07–19:37]

Tone and Style

The episode skillfully captures the everyday pragmatism and the high stakes of political life for Palestinians in Jerusalem, underscoring both the mundane needs (roads, schools) and the existential dilemmas faced by candidates like Dabash. The tone oscillates between hopeful, analytical, and somber, highlighting both the courage required to run and the deep divisions that define life in Jerusalem. The conversations maintain the nuance and empathy characteristic of The New Yorker’s journalism.

This summary focuses on the Jerusalem segment of the episode. Sections on Calvin Trillin’s family home movies, while charming, are omitted per your guidelines to concentrate fully on the main political story.