Enough

My lilies and margaritas

OK short and sweet didn't work. Yesterday's views shot up to 675 and today, before writing this blog, is 425. What is happening????

Well, I cannot but lament the violence yesterday and today. 4 Israelis killed by terrorist shooting near Nablus, and today jewish revenge by burning an arab town there. 60 cars burnt, 30 homes burnt, countless fruit trees and farm land burnt. It doesn't seem to end this cycle of violence. Why can't the adults just let the children enjoy their summer holidays? Stop the violence, Stop the killings. The earth is tired from being opened everyday for the burial of another person. We spend more time in summer at funerals than enjoying the season. Enough is enough.

Short & sweet

Sunrise today

 Wow ... yesterday's views rose to 448 and today, while not even writing this blog yet, is up to 315. Alarm bells ringing. Something very unusual is happening in my blog. I'm being watched. OK no more geo-political commentary.

The weather is fine. My health is not fine. Have a great day. Bye

Stromata

Damascus Gate at night

... So yesterday I had 120 views on this blog. Today 222. Something fishy is happening here ... I usually don't get more than 25 views a day. I'm being stalked.

This morning was very violent in the Jenin refugee camp. Raids to capture terrorists let to road bombs going off and apche helicopters firing onto the streets. 7 israeli soldiers injured, 5 Jeninese killed and 90+ wounded. It's not been so violent since the 2nd Intifada 20 yrs back. We're just praying that this violence will cease and innocent people don't get killed or injured. The tension is so palpable that Damascus Gate which is swarming with people on summer nights is now very quiet and empty.

Healthwise my hands and feet are still swollen .... I'll get my appointment to see the specialist soon to get my kidneys checked. 

Summer

Summer sun

It's summer time ... the days are getting longer. In fact I've been tracking the muezzin's call to pray before sunrise. Today it was 3.45am, which in solar time is 2.45am. It'll get earlier still until next week when the summer solstice marks the longest day of the year. Then sunrise will gradually become later and we prepare for autumn.

Yesterday was another day of violence ... from local triad societies. In Nazareth, usually quiet and calm, a series of killings the past weeks has been perpetrated. Yesterday one was shot dead and another wounded. In the southern city of Ashkelon, another was shot dead. This culture of violence has to stop ... or the younger generation will have no future.

I'm still in contact with the Sisters of Charity to organize a summer camp for the poorest children in our parish. It's also a break for the mothers who spend the entire day at home cooking and cleaning all through the school year. They too come to the summer camp and enjoy the fun. The camp may be short, but for these poor it's an event to look forward to; a break from routine and the pressures of living in poverty.

Hateful spitters

Villagers selling fruit

The weather has settled this week .... hot summer days but chilly nights. The streets are filled with village vendors selling fruit and vegetables. Very colourful and tasty ... and expensive. Lots of apricots. The figs are also making an appearance but we all know the first figs are tasteless. You need to wait for August for the best figs. Grapes are best in September. Right now it's apricots, peaches, cherries and some exotic tropical fruit like pineapples. I rather like this season for the variety of fruit that we can eat in this heat ... if we can afford it.

Tensions continue in and around the City. Anti-Christian jews are more defiant at spitting at us now that they have been videoed and condemned by many jewish sectors. Even the Chief Rabbi issued a statement condemning it. These jews come en masse and spit at our churches every Friday morning after their prayers at the Wailing Wall. Jewish professors from various universities organized a conference on this anti0Christian issue but the venue organizers were pressured by the spitting jews to abandon the conference or face the consequences. Ultimately it's the rabbis who're pulling the strings and making their lackeys do their dirty work. The conference was moved to the Armenian Monastery. This anti-Christian attitude is becoming more aggressive ... it has already led to vandalism, burnings and destruction of Churches, Christian property and attacks on Christians. But the world is very quiet about this. Imagine if one jew was spat at in Europe or America.

Thunderstorm

Cherries galore

The weather is back to normal summer. No heatwaves ... but the ground is still thick with the desert sands during the sandstorm. Friday we had a very strange thunderstorm that should not have been. This is June. There was thunder and lightening ... it was like in winter. It was all very strange. Some religious jews are saying God is angry. This is the harvest of the wheat and rains will destroy the crops. Still it was quite spectacular to watch the lightening cutting the skies all night.

Well the cherry harvest seems to be good ... red, orange, green ... all colours. But I thought they're very expensive. 40 shekels per kilo. Other fruit are also in season: lychees, pineapples, peaches and apricots. They're all quite expensive. But then everything else is also expensive after Covid.

Summer

The weather continues to be hot though not as much as the heatwave last week that went up to 40 degrees. There's a cool breeze blowing so that's good.

Police stop-and-search

Tensions continue to rise as clashes in the palestinian towns are provoked by israeli raids. Stone throwers along the highway to Nablus are also reported to injure motorists. Police are stopping youths and checking their permits in many places in the Old City and around. And the summer heat is not helping to cool tempers.

Exams in the schools are also making university and secondary school students nervous and edgy. Skirmishes are more frequent in the streets between students as a result. Primary school students on the other have started their summer vacation. Busloads are going to Jericho each day to swim in public pools. It's good for the children to go out of the City during summer. The claustrophobic ambiance within the City Walls, and the constant menacing presence of police are very disturbing for growing children. It's not normal. Luckily schools organise such trips but the cost may be too much for poor families to afford. Instead the poorer children will be working as vendors or in shops and restaurants to earn a little something. I really wish I could sponsor them for football classes or something in the Arab Sports Club here in the Old City. I used to do that with the extra reserves of donations but now Covid has depleted all our resources. It's these poorer kids who need a break, to be able to run and laugh and kick ball without police chasing them away.

Off to Jericho swimming pools!