Turbulance

Bedouin women selling
fresh fruit at Damascus Gate

The catholic school strike has gained support from israeli arab schools - meaning arab schools in israel that are funded by the govt. Today these schools also went on strike and their students demonstrated in the Ministry of Education compound. And a long list of professors and educators signed an open letter urging the Ministry to act justly and subsidise the catholic schools because these schools are publicly known to be the most successful in the country ... with the highest success rates; better than Israeli schools. Catholic schools have provided many leaders of society, breaking the cycle of poverty for numerous poor families through education. The Ministry's move is effectively to kill off all catholic schools by withdrawing subsidies and prohibiting schools from raising fees. The injustice lies in the fact that similarly designated Jewish schools are subsidised 75% by the same Ministry. Remember you can help our catholic students during this dreadful situation by sponsoring one of them for merely US$1100 a year.

More bad news as the mother of the baby burnt to death by Jewish settlers last month, has also died from her injuries. Palestinians have called for a day of rage - meaning all shops and offices close in protest, demonstrations in the streets etc .... even the bedouin women selling fruit and veggies at Damascus Gate will not be doing business. The poor family has now lost both parents and the baby. The only survivor is only 4 yrs old. Though a couple of extremists have been arrested, there have been no charges, no indictments, no names released, nothing. Everything is hushed under a court gag order.

Sand storm today

And to add flames to the fire, Israel has ordered the demolition of 13,000 palestinian structures in Palestine. Sounds strange? Israel enters Palestine, takes over parts of it and orders its local houses and structures to be destroyed. It's the largest ever demolition. And the Jewish High Holy Days are just round the corner and tensions are naturally higher than normal. It's a tinder box waiting to be lit. As far as I can see, it's bad timing when so much discontent is fermenting in the air ... like the dreadful desert sand storm we're experiencing today. Let's pray and hope there'll be no violence in the coming weeks.