3: A Train to Nowhere (Sharri Plonski)

When Israel’s HaEmek railway reopened in 2016, it served only nine stations and stopped 4km shy of the Jordanian border. Far from more spectacular sites of violence, the train’s inauguration fell below most people’s radar. In this week’s episode, Sharri Plonski tells the story of this “train to nowhere” - of its colonial history, how its logistical future would rewrite the map of the Middle East, and how increased Israeli mobility entails increased Palestinian fragmentation and containment. But, as we’ll hear, as ever Palestinians are powerfully resisting efforts to make their lives unliveable. On the trail of this train, Sharri speaks with Palestinian academics and activists Yara Hawari, Omar Jabary-Salamanca, and Hanna Swaid; as well as Laleh Khalili, Manu Karuka, and Katy Fox-Hoddess. Talking to them, she learns that, though logistical infrastructures are vehicles of state or corporate power, they also make possible forms of international solidarity with the Palestinian struggle for freedom. They also tell her that to fully understand Israel’s normalisation project it is essential to look at these less visible, but no less violent, material crimes. Useful links Al-Shabaka: The Palestinian Policy Network: https://al-shabaka.org/en/ Arab Center for Alternative Planning (AC-AP): https://www.ac-ap.org/en/ BDS Movement: https://bdsmovement.net/ Who Profits: The Israeli Occupation Industry: https://www.whoprofits.org/ Further Reading Rana Barakat, 2021. “Ramadan Does Not Come for Free”: Refusal as New and Ongoing in Palestine. Journal of Palestine Studies, 50(4), p. 90-95. Deborah Cowen. “Following the Infrastructures of Empire: Notes on Cities, Settler Colonialism, and Method,” Urban Geography, 41:4 (2020), pp. 469-486 Yara Hawari. “The Stone House,” (London: Hajar Press, 2021). Manu Karuka. “Empire's Tracks: Indigenous Nations, Chinese Workers, and the Transcontinental Railroad,” (Berkeley: California University Press, 2019). Laleh Khalili. “Sinews of War and Trade: Shipping and Capitalism in the Arabiuan Peninsula,” (London: Verso, 2020). Additional Notes: *Additional Voice George “Adders” Ofori-Addo **Research for this episode was supported by an ESRC New Investigator Grant: “From Walls to Corridors: The Global Logistics of Israel’s HaEmek Railway” (ES/S01439X/1). ***The episode author would like to acknowledge the support and contributions of the Arab Center for Alternative Planning (AC-AP), without which this episode, and the larger project of which it is a part, would not have been possible.