Cool weather

Bedouin women
selling veggies

The closure of yesterday's terrorist's village and arrest of his brother had led to a series of clashes by arab of neighbouring villages. These surround the biblical village of Emmaus which now is totally muslim except for 2 convents of catholic nuns and the Basilica of Emmaus ruined by the franciscans. I hope they're alright on there. Any closure of the surrounding villages would mean no food ... and in the worst scenario, no electricity and water. It has happened before during the 2 Intifadas.

The talk about town is Saudi Arabia's ruling to allow women to drive. Not sure what it actually entails ... that a woman can drive but with a male family member inside the car, or she can drive alone in public. On the pro side, those Saudi families need not pay for drivers any more; on the con side, all these foreign drivers (mainly indians and filipinos) will lose their jobs. Whatever it is, local arabs here are laughing because it's unthinkable that women cannot drive.

While we're still in the wake of the terrorist attack yesterday, the newspapers now report that the soldier who shot dead  a downed terrorist last year had his conviction reduced. No surprises ... everyone expected it ... it fact this is only the beginning ... after a few months the conviction may even be early release. https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5021867,00.html

And in the face of the High Court's ruling that the Chief Rabbinate has no monopoly over issuing kosher certificates to restaurants and other food processing places, an orthodox authority has begun issuing such certificates. There will be strong reaction from the ultra-orthodox Chief Rabbinate ... but it's a move welcomed by many jews here.  http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Independent-authority-defies-Rabbinate-issues-kosher-certificates-505896

But life goes on for most of the people. Everyone is preparing for winter. The evenings and nights are very cool and everyone wears a jumper or hoodie. Most people are stocking up as the weekend will be very long ... with Yom Kippur and Sukkoth falling within a week of each other starting this Friday. The arab side of the City will be opened for most of these days though. Lucky for us. But with traffic and public transport coming to a total standstill, many fresh veggies and food will not be able to arrive even to the arab part of the City.