Solomon's Pools

Solomon's Pools near Bethlehem

Alot of violence these couple of days - an arab runs downs a jewish crowd with a car, then yesterday a jewish man stabs an arab cleaner. It's summer and the violence has begun. Not a very nice thought ... I was hoping this summer would be calm and normal .. if you can use that word in this country.

This week is pretty tense as tomorrow begins Memorial Day for the fallen soldiers and Wednesday is Independence Day for Israel. For the arabs here of course it's a day of bad memories. Following this they will celebrate Nakba Day ... "Catastrophe Day" when they remember how they lost their land.

I had a nice morning yesterday when I revisited some sites that I have not seen for a long time - the valley in Bethlehem where Solomon built 3 huge pools and further down the valley is the incredibly beautiful church of the Hortus Conclusus. A group of school girls from Hebron were having an excursion there with their teachers. The sun was bright and the wind was not cold. It was certainly a nice morning out.