Jisr az-Zarqa

Assignment in Jisr az-Zarqa for National Geographic Traveler magazine Israel edition. Jisr az-Zarqa is the only remaining Arab town in Israel located on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea and has all the ingredients for a successful tourist destination: a dreamy location on the shore of the Mediterranean however the town has the lowest average monthly wage in Israel., with 80 percent of its families living below the poverty line. A third of the local residents are unemployed and the percentage of college graduates is among the lowest in Israel’s Arab population. That, and the general distrust between Jewish and Arab Israelis, explains why most of the Israelis drift to the far lane whenever they drive by Jisr on the nearby Haifa-Tel Aviv highway.