Riots

Riotous cortege passing
below our house

The last 2 days have seen lots of rioting and violence on the Mt. of Olives, the Kidron Valley and eventually up into the Muslim part of the Old City. Apparently it all started when a 16 yr old boy was shot by police in the Valley for throwing stones last Thursday but died on Sunday. The cause of death is still disputed: arabs say he was shot in the head, providing photos of the autopsy as proof, while Israeli police insist they only shot the guy on the leg and he fell and injured his head. Throughout Sunday and into Monday riots flared up all over East Jerusalem. At 6pm the body was carried into the Al Aqsa Mosque for prayers and then the cortege moved out to the cemetary, passing next to our house. We had prior warning and shut our doors. So did the security guys opposite us guarding the Western Wall Tunnel. The angry cortege passed next to our house, shouting slogans, smashing security cameras and finally rioting as police fired tear gas and stun grenades. The body was finally buried though.

Grapes in abundance

The weather has cooled down alot ... which is one factor for rise of violence. The night temperature goes down quite alot so that a pullover is necessary. It also makes walking up and down to work less difficult. I've managed to do quite alot of work this weekend, correcting 93 pages of a draft and another 46 pages for another publication. I'm sort of an unofficial editor now. No extra salary though. My infected eye is alot better but not totally healed. Correcting tiny footnotes become very difficult with this eye problem. It tires me out quickly.

The walk to and from work is nice as I get to pass by the open Bedouin market and see the seasonal fruit on sale. There's lots of guava ... an introduced fruit which is locally grown. Figs are in the final season, and grapes are plentiful. Among the herbs are mint and sage which are profusely harvested now.