Enforced fasting

Thistles have dried out

The weather is continuing to be fluctuating between very hot in the daytime to cold in the nights. Not at all nice. I usually like the heat but this year the heat is killing me ... I have no strength to walk up to work at all. The heat just drains away my energy. And to show you how hot it is, the thistles int eh fields and roadsides are all dried before time. They've become brown and spiky. No wonder we only had a couple of weeks when artichokes were on sale. Artichokes are the immature thistles that we cook and eat. But because the weather was too hot, they've all dried up and turned spiky before they can be harvested and cooked. What a waste. I like artichokes.

Bread seller in
Ramadan

I mentioned in an earlier blog that I noticed this year the muslims are a lot more relaxed about Ramadan and Fasting. Food and drinks are sold in the streets ... you even see muslims drinking and eating and smoking though discretely. Yesterday the Palestinian Authorities asked the Muslim Authorities to enforce a strict ban on eating and drinking during Ramadan. Any Muslim caught will be imprisoned for a month. That is really tough ... and I doubt many muslims like it even though they don't dare to oppose it. I think the laced reaction is due to the past years of fasting during the hottest seasons of the year, and also a reaction to the extremism of fanatical islam. Well the PA is not taking it lightly but the enforcement of this law would be the 1st time in Palestine's history and will set a precedence that a political institution can direct the course of the Supreme Court.    http://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/Palestinian-Authority-bans-public-eating-during-Ramadan-494765

Some violence were nipped in the bud yesterday when the Israeli Security arrested several terrorists who had planned to attack jewish visitors in the Al Aqsa Mosque. http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4971315,00.html

But on a positive note, there's the news that a jewish nurse is breastfeeding an arab baby because his mother is in serious condition and father died in a car accident. Other jewish women on social media volunteered, some offering to travel 270 km just to care for the baby. It's very touching. Every mother with a baby would understand. It crosses cultures.  http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4971345,00.html