End of papal tour

From my terrace

So the pope has finally left the Holyland after a 2 day whirlwind tour. He was very obviously exhausted. This morning we got to catch a glimpse of him as he toured the Al Aqsa and Dome of the Rock mosques which are some 500 metres from my window. From the photo, you can see the armoured black car with lots of Waqf security and the papal entourage. The white dot on the right of the car is the pope entering the Grand Mufti's office. That's as close as I can get to the pope.

Crowds gather at Paris Square in front
of Terra Santa College where the pope
was scheduled to pass by

Major traffic disruptions throughout the City as the pope made his whirlwind visit today. The entire area inside and outside the Christian Quarter of the Old City was closed off. As the papal car moved out of the Old City to the New City to a visit to the President and Yad Vashem, crowds gathered along the road to catch a glimpse of the elusive pope who had been threatened by jewish extremists. 26 of them had been arrested yesterday for plotting to do something at the Last Supper Room when the Pope was scheduled to celebrate Mass. The threat of violence is real and israeli security was taking no chances. The funny thing was it's not the usual muslim extremists who were the culprits but jewish extremists. They had no qualms in assassinating their late PM Isaac Rabin for not fitting into their religious categories and agenda.

Security balloon with camera
floats above the Notre
Dame Centre as the pope
met with the Israeli PM

Later he went to the Notre Dame Centre for a meeting with the PM before lunching with the franciscan friars at St. Saviour's monastery. Despite the emphasis that the visit was a pastoral visit and not political, both Israelis and Palestinians took full advantage to tout their positions and justify their stance in the failed peace talks brokered by the USA. The pope has personally invited the israeli and palestinian leaders to go to the Vatican to restart these talks. Let's hope the challenge is taken up.

Lunch at St. Savior's Monastery with
Franciscan Minister General (L)
and Custos (R)