Rain!

Tonight Sukkot begins. The weather has cooled alot now. People are wearing jumpers in the evenings and winter blankets are coming out. And true to Sukkot, the first rains came. Actually it's drizzle ... but what a welcome! The sky was dark with rain clouds, drizzle splattered around, the sound of drops pattering on the stone pavements .... what a delight!

There's a rise in Palestinian violence against Israeli police. This summer went off relatively quiet, unlike what I predicted in Spring. There were demonstrations and tensions, from Palestinians and Israelis ... but not on the scale most of us expected. That's good. But now we begin to see Palestinians with knives ... reminds me of the Intifida all over again.  http://www.jpost.com/NationalNews/Article.aspx?id=286078

The rising bitterness among Palestinians against Israelis and their own Palestinian govt. is another point.  http://www.jpost.com/MiddleEast/Article.aspx?id=286063   In a way I can understand their anger. Allowing Israeli buses into Bethlehem is only going to start a slow erosion of tourist business from Bethelemite hands into Israelis; less money gets into Palestine and the local arabs will suffer. Bad move, the Palestinian Authorities really pulled the carpet under their own feet.

The Cardo Cat

Well as all the tensions rise around us, the heat of another bitter struggle put on the boil ... there's still someone all calm and unfazed ... the Cardo Cat. She actually has her own framed portrait in front of which she sleeps everyday. She's so famous now, people come up to photo her and drop money in a box next to her so someone in the shops nearby can buy cat-food for her. She's found in the busy 'Cardo' - the market street built on the ancient road that ran across the Old City north to south some 1,900 years ago.