Mooncakes

So I finally found out why all the clashes the other night ... Israel had returned a dead terrorist's body back to his family for burial on condition that it was private and held at midnight. This is the normal procedure when terrorists' bodies are returned to their families. OK question ... why is Israel holding terrorists' bodies? Sounds weird to say it but it's like a punishment and hostage to ensure others don't commit the same crime, and not to make the terrorist a hero with a public funeral. So in our case, word got out that the body would be returned that night and buried in the cemetery outside Herod's Gate. So crowds of arabs tried to get to the cemetery but there was the danger of riots therefore the soldiers stepped in and closed off the roads. Hence the clashes.

Mooncakes and a piglet

But mooncakes have taken my attention away from these troublesome thoughts. A group came bringing lots of mooncakes and one piglet-in-a-basket.  I shared them with my workers in the library and the various sisters that work in the offices around the library. They look forward to this every year as mooncakes are a novelty. Usually the Mid-Autumn festival falls on the same date as the jewish Festival of Booths/Tabernacles called "Sukkoth" but this year it's not. The jewish lunar calendar has added a month so Sukkoth this year is one month after our Mid-Autumn Festival.

And now ... the railway repair scandal that is still rocking the country: now the Supreme Court has added its voice to it. It declared that work on the Sabbath was valid and the PM had no authority to ban this work on the Sabbath. This is a head-on clash with the ultra-orthodox rabbis ... and we know who's going to loose.  http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4851236,00.html  and  http://www.jerusalemonline.com/news/politics-and-military/politics/supreme-court-railroad-construction-on-weekends-is-legal-23447

And interesting story just emerged from the newspapers.  In 1848 on this day Sept. 6th a chief rabbi and his family were poisoned by ultra-orthodox jews because he was too radical: he called for a ban on ultra-orthodox dress .... read "burqa" today or "burkini". Nothing stops the ultra-orthodox from preserving their interpretation of Judaism ... not even murdering others. Sounds almost like Islamic fundamentalism .... http://www.haaretz.com/jewish/this-day-in-jewish-history/1.740367

On Saturday the muslims will begin to celebrate Eid AL Adha ... the Feast of the Sacrifice (of Ishmael) and the Israeli govt. is going to allow 100,000 muslims from Palestine to enter Israel and into the Al Aqsa Mosque for the feast. I don't even want to think of the trouble in our streets as it's the main thoroughfare for entrance into the Mosque compound.  http://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-to-ease-limits-on-palestinian-travel-for-holiday/

 I think I'll just stick to mooncakes and chinese tea and leave the whirlpool of problems outside my door. It's not worth it.

Chinese tourists ripped off US$4,300 dinner

Arab youths and Israeli soldiers
confront each other

Yesterday early evening saw some clashes around our house. And I was caught in the middle of it.  I had just finished work and was going home through Herod's Gaye. Immediately turning left into the City through the Gate there was a huge crowd of some 30-40 arabs arguing with several Israeli soldiers. It was very tense and the soldiers arrested some youths and brought them our of the City Gate to the police station which is directly outside. The crowds followed along. I continued down the street till halfway (near Bustami Street) and again there was an altercation between soldiers and arab youths. The soldiers closed the road to the arabs - they cannot go up to Herod's Gate. As I was going down the opposite direction, the soldiers allowed me to pass through.

Ambulance and
soldiers at Via
Dolorosa

Reaching the end of the street that opens into Via Dolorosa, again another group of soldiers were quarrelling with local arabs. However I did not know why there were all these confrontations. I reached home, went up to my room and from the terrace I noticed there were more soldiers stationed along Via Dolorosa: at Ecce Homo arch and down at the Armenian parking lot. An ambulance had just entered the street going toward Austrian Hospice. Via Dolorosa was otherwise totally empty... no one else walking along the street. Soon after 2 stun grenades were fired somewhere behind our house.

After that, everything was quiet. I guess it ended.

This morning the newspapers were splashing with the headlines that 8 chinese tourists were ripped off by over US$4,000 over a dinner at the village of Abu Ghosh. Shocking! Travel industry people are calling for the restauranteurs be prosecuted and some form of control be used to check tourists service providers. Well my evaluation is this:
1) Never travel alone in Israel as you will inevitably be ripped off.
2) Use a reputable travel agency that is responsible and experienced.
3) Never buy or agree to anything until the price has been decided
4) Always have the phone number of the tourist police at hand
5) Never expect things here to be the same as back home. Cultures are different.
http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/business/1.740414

Another day

Remains of Tancred's Tower
below the modern City wall

Yesterday was another early day ... had to be at New Gate at 4am to welcome and accompany Matthias back to Jerusalem. It was an hour's delay I guess with the plane because I waited for an hour and he did't arrive.  But I had the great opportunity to see Jerusalem from a different time perspective .... 4am. The roads were quite, the light rail had not yet started working, and very few people in the streets.  The air was fresh and there was no tension. No police. A couple of young arabs going to work probably at restaurants or hotels ... and a few jews going to the Wailing Wall.

The moat which is a park now

Outside of New Gate the remains of Tancred's Tower (Crusader period) looked awesome in floodlights. The lower course of stones marked the huge fortress tower built by the Crusader king Tancred to protect the north-west corner of the Old City. The moat in front of it, now a park, was also beautiful in the night light. Everything looked so calm and tranquil.

And then reality comes with daybreak: the railway scandal that is rocking the country takes a turn for the worse: the ultra-orthodox jews had forced the government to stop railway repairs on the Sabbath .... leading to the closure of the entire rail system. Soldiers could not go home or go to work. It was a red alert moment as far as I think. Soldiers unable to report to bases. Any attack from external or internal forces would have been a walkover. The Defense Ministry had to run buses to transport the soldiers!!  http://www.jerusalemonline.com/news/in-israel/local/shabbat-crisis-defense-ministry-to-operate-buses-for-soldiers-only-23386

The ultra-orthodox strangle hold over the govt. is now absolutely clear when they are capable of paralyzing the entire country's public transport system; which neither the govt. nor the Defense nor Religious ministries could stop. The funny thing is in China, in order to remove a bridge as quickly as possible, 100 excavators were used to tear the bridge down. In 52 hours the bridge was removed and the streets were opened to traffic again. Israel originally planned to do that but  religion got in the way. http://www.timesofisrael.com/downbound-train/  Well the ultra-orthodox won this round in its fight against the military.

St. Teresa of Calcutta

Buddy bowing to M. Teresa

The canonisation Mass of M. Teresa is on right now. I'm watching Vatican TV online. So is Buddy. He didn't bother much about the bishops and cardinals, but when M. Teresa's picture was shown, he bowed. yes he did!!! And when the pope came up on screen, Buddy stepped on the bar to pause the frame. I wonder what Buddy was thinking.

I guess I've neglected Buddy these few weeks. With all the work, I've left him alone in the room most of the time. In the night sometimes he comes down from the curtain rails (4 meters high) and sleep with me. Today I decided to stay in with him so he's very happy. I even gave him an apple.

The railway implosion is really peaking. Thousands have demonstrated and public media have condemned the whole fiasco. The PM is getting all the blame a he (naturally) bowed to the ultra-orthodox demands. He needs to do that because his coalition govt. hangs on the few seats held by the ultra-orthodox. Political survival is more important than the public that elected him to serve them. But things are not as simple as it seems. The Transport Minister, who has had a history of clashes with the PM, has calculated this fiasco to shake the PM from power. The public discontent that traffic and rail system be halted now for several days, affecting security (soldiers can't get to their bases) will certainly bring the govt.'s downfall and earn the hatred of the public for the ultra-orthodox who have till now controlled almost all of Israeli life. http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-1.740086  and  http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/1.740055

And another joke (insult?) on the headlines is Donald Trump wearing a jewish prayer shawl given by a Protestant pastor. Some jews are greatly insulted by this. Others think it is inappropriate. I think the pastor is just plain dumb. You're christian!!! Give a cross or a bible .... but not the religious garment of another religion!!! What next? ISIS giving out crosses to buddhists and hindus??? Sheer idiocy. Identity crisis of american protestantism.  http://www.haaretz.com/world-news/u-s-election-2016/1.740062

M Teresa's sisters beaten up and Eucharist desecrated

Dark quiet road
from 7th Station to
Holy Sepulcher 

Really busy. Last night was traveling 77 kms to Herzliya, the coastal city, to celebrate Mass for the migrant community there. It's a pretty mixed group of people: americans, africans, filipinos and indians. When I reached home in Jerusalem it was past 10.30pm. No food all day so I was lucky Nadia our cook prepared chicken schnitzel with potato chips. I had to go to her house to get it. The by 4am (slept only 4 hours) I was up again because there was Mass at the Holy Sepulcher at 6am for the Tel Aviv community of migrants.

Walking up to the Holy Sepulcher was strangely quiet. No one in the streets at 5am except for groups of soldiers huddled together waiting for their shift to end. No groups going to or from the Holy Sepulcher, no merchants preparing their wares. I was the only one walking there ... except for baker carrying a tray of kaik (bagels) on his head, heading towards Damascus Gate. There were some 30 plus people who came from Tel Aviv for the  Mass.

Holy Sepulcher
under restoration

Then at 8am there was the indian Mass at St. Savior's parish. Big crowd of some 400 konkani speaking migrant workers. Next Saturday is Monti (Indian feast for the birth of the Virgin Mary) so they have started a novena.I was dead tired by then and felt faint 4 times during the Mass. Anyway managed to survive ; the chinese sisters cooked some rice and veggies which I ate for brunch. They came for the 6am Mass in the Empty Tomb.

Anyway now it's time to run off to the PDDM sisters at the 3rd Station. Have to teach them how to sing some prayers in armenian for tomorrow's Mass at the Armenian Catholic cathedral. The organist died 2 weeks ago and Sr. Cecilia the one-person choir was transferred to Italy. It's now starting from zero to organize a choir that can sing something in armenian.

If you're feeling confused about why so many Masses on Fridays and Saturdays, remember it's the national weekend. Most migrant workers get their off-days either Friday or Saturday so churches celebrate Sunday Mas son those days when they migrant community can come. Sunday is the 1st working day of the week and hardly any migrant catholic can come. Only arab christians are free on Sundays.

We just received news that 5 sisters of M. Teresa were beaten and tied up in their convent in Argentina. The chapel was desecrated when the 3 men threw the consecrated hosts on the floor. They managed to steal only US$3.50 which the sisters had. Absolutely shameful.  http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/eucharist-desecrated-missionaries-of-charity-assaulted-in-argentina-63151/

1st Day of School

You must be confused when I speak about the weekend ... because sometimes I refer to the muslim weekend, sometimes to the jewish weekend and sometimes to the christian weekend. Technically weekend means 3 days from Friday to Sunday.

Zion Square night market was quiet

Well it's the weekend (!!!) and the night market at Ben Yehudi Mall was up and running as usual. But yesterday it was pretty quiet. Perhaps it's the first day of school so most of the children and youths have no time to come out. Tourists are also few ... perhaps because of the heat but also because of fear. Such a pity. There were street performers and buskers but they drew very few audiences. The famous violinist wasn't even there ... as was missing also the ultra-orthodox guitarist. It was all very downcast, I felt.

Ben Yehuda is
also quiet

And what was I doing there? Well I couldn't get home!! My street was blocked off by the police because jewish youths were marching through my street. They do it once a month ... very provocative ... to show that East Jerusalem (mainly arab) belongs to Israel. They come in the hundreds singing, chanting and banging drums and waving Israeli flags. And everyone else must stand aside and keep out of their way. And they pass through my main door and we're not allowed to open it. They spit at us. So I was locked out and decided instead to walk around the New City till they reopened the road. That was about 9pm.

This week was also the Beer Fest held annually at Independence Park. Lots of different brewers come to show their products and lots of youths come to drink. And there's also a live concert. I'm not interested in beer nor the concert. But we can hear the noise from New Gate.

Yesterday was the 1st day of school for both Israel and Palestine. Early morning and afternoon saw thousands of students going and returning from school. In between that, the streets are quiet, peaceful and less stressful. School can be quite a relief for parents and residents.

Thursday Salad Lunch

Lunch at Salatiah

It's almost weekend again (Muslim weekend = Thursday Friday; Jewish = Friday Saturday). One thing I like about Thursday despite it's more than usual hectic schedule is having lunch with my friend Aviram. We don't do it as often as we like because our schedules are really tight (more me than him because he gets Thursdays off except for night school later in the evening), but we still try and meet up. It keeps me sane as I take a break from everything and just walk off to the New City. We always have a salad lunch because it's healthy and cheap. For 35 shekels you get to choose 9 different types veggies (over the basic lettuce) plus various sauces. And the portion is really big so we usually eat only half and keep the rest for dinner. And we chat up a lot during lunch. The salad place is called HaSalatiah (literally "salad"). It's the only one of its kind in Jerusalem and is very popular. Too bad today they were out of green peas and bean sprouts. I had tomato/parsley, baked sweet potato, baked potato, mushrooms, baked eggplants, an egg, pasta ... can't remember what else.

Back to the implosion theory: the police chief said it's only natural that Israeli police should suspect ethiopic jews. Huge backlash since yesterday.  http://www.timesofisrael.com/ethiopian-israelis-seek-apology-resignation-of-police-chief/

More disturbing is a summer camp organized by extreme rightwing Israelis. A video showed how israeli youths were taught to attack Israeli police and interrogators, sabotage techniques, assault, martial arts and other violent actions which have shocked the rest of Israel. This group attacks not only arabs and christians and other minority groups but also Israelis who do not agree with their worldview. Members of parliament (Knesset) have asked the group to be branded terrorist ... similar to arab terrorist groups. A Major General said it is more worrying than incitement from the arabs.  http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4848543,00.html

Former Custos Pizzaballa will be
Apostolic Administrator of the
Holyland in place of a Patriarch

Anyway the weekend is upon us. On Sept. 10th our former Custos will be consecrated Archbishop and take over the Patriarchate of the Holy Land (there is no patriarch).  Also the canonization day of Mother Teresa is this Sunday the 4th. On Sept. 11th evening the muslims will celebrate Eid al Adha "The Sacrifice of Ishmael" (not Isaac) and October 2nd begins the cycle of jewish High Holy Days beginning with Rosh HaShana (New Year) and ends on Oct 23rd. Autumn is always full of celebrations.