Hailstorm

Damascus Gate at 4.30am - cold & wet

What a storm we had last night. It was forecast for 3am but at 2.30am I was woken up by thunder and lightening  .... very loud. And it rained. And the wind was very strong. My windows and door were shaking from the wind. Morning was cold and wet but the rains and thunder had stopped. The sky remained very cloudy though ... like the deep of winter. I had to wait for a visiting group making the Way of the Cross at 5.30am but since I was already up, I decided to go buy some fresh buns for breakfast at 4.30am. It was very cold and wet but the thunderstorm had past. The 24 hour bakery was very quiet ... no arabs in the coffee shops around, It's Saturday and most arabs don't work. Being Sabbat the jews also don't work but gathered in droves to the Wailing Wall. Muslims were also arriving at the Al Aqsa Mosque for the daybreak prayer. Quite a busy scene ... at 4.30am.

Hailstones today

I had to go to the Salesian University to collect books at noontime but as I was leaving, it started to rain very heavily and then huge hailstones began to fall. It hailed very hard for several minutes and the sound of hard ice balls hitting car roofs and windowpanes could be heard all over. Deafening. I had to wait almost 20 mins before it subsided to a drizzle ... light enough for me to walk home 2kms away.

Today's expected massive protest at the Gaza border took place in the late morning. Some 40,000 participated. It's the 1st anniversary of the March for the Right of Return protest ... arab refugees from Gaza demanding their right to return to their lands and houses occupied by Israel today. Even before the protest started, one arab was killed by Israeli soldiers in the early morning. But makes today more worrying is it's Land Day ... the day back in the 1970s when 6 arabs were killed by Israelis who took their land and built houses for themselves. I've seen lots of violence on Land Day ... but the past few years, Land Day passed quietly in Jerusalem. The violence occurs only at the borders and villages.   https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5486596,00.html?fbclid=IwAR3Gak4eBuKcxgppVIy8NANu5iOj9FLnDY0N67tT24kxqYjVOLKCZUOq8rA