Rain

Sleeping cosy cat at a shop entrance

It rained all night ands very cold. 10 degrees at most. I was terribly sick with a very high fever, aching joints, stomach cramps, dizziness and nausea. Despite the fever I was shivering so hard I had to wear many layers of clothes to keep warm ... till 1.30am when the fever and shivering subsided. Then I went down to the refectory to drink a cup of hot coffee. I felt better but the aching joints would not stop so I did not sleep till now ... a good 30 hours. It was terrible and I have not been so sick for a long time. Today I feel better but very tired and sleepy. But I still have class so I'll have to walk another 1km to the university to teach. I'm substituting a prof. who cannot make it for his class. Tomorrow I'll have to go back to hospital to check if my bone graft is still growing or rejected.

The sky is still very dark and drizzling but still lots of muslims continue to come into the Old City to pray at the Al Aqsa Mosque. Shop-keepers are keeping a close eye on the rain ... but also on municipality officers who catch illegal hawkers. This morning I saw a young arab staying on a ladder watching for police and occifers while illegal hawkers sold their wares quickly before the rain comes.

Lookout on a ladder for police

It was a rough night for the country as the PM chose to accept a ceasefire with Gaza after heavy fighting for 2 days. Israelis who had been bombed were not happy with this apparent surrender and rioted in the southern cities. Today they plan to march in Tel Aviv. The Defense Minister resigned in protest at the soft approach to Gaza because he advocated a massive attack. The country is right now torn in two. Hamas in Gaza has fired over 400 missiles and has probably depleted it's cache of weapons ... it cannot retaliate so a ceasefire is its only option.

A pro-ultra-orthodox mayor has been elected for Jerusalem in yesterday's runoff. Doesn't sound good for us though he has promised to be a mayor for everyone. That usually means giving in to the ultra-orthodox demands and minority rights will again be squashed. Jews will still get away with vandalizing, attacking and spitting at christians and there will be no investigations and arrests. But even worse the implosion within judaism will worsen because the secular and non-ultra-orthodox communities will also be attacked and excluded by the ultra-orthodox who will impose their practices on all other jews living in Jerusalem.