Sunday

Arabs in shock as
police escort the israelis

 Yesterday's Israeli Flag March into the Muslim Quarter to celebrate Israeli conquest of Arab East Jerusalem was shockingly violent. It started very early at 7am though the March itself was scheduled at 4pm. Groups had started marching through our streets at 2am shouting racist slogans, banging drums and waking the whole neighborhood. That's illegal but the police allowed them to do it. 

I had to celebrate Mass at Calvary at 7am and then meet some chinese students at 9.30am so I thought I'd be back before 12pm before any trouble began. However when I got home through Herod's Gate at 11am, large groups of aggressive Jews were vandalizing Arab property and beating Arabs they found on the street. I was right in the midst of them as the street is narrow and there was no turning back. Police sided with the israelis, escorting them while letting them vandalize and beat arabs. It was utterly shocking and unbelievable. Anyway they left me in peace because they could see I was a foreigner.

Then waves after waves of Jews passed through our main door, threatening the Arab shop owners and provoking a fight with our doorman's sons. One was badly beaten up ... our doorman showed me a photo of his son recuperating at home. It's illegal for the groups to enter our street as it's not part of the route agreed by the police. But the police closed both eyes.

At 5pm I heard gunshots just below my window. Things had gotten out of hand. 70,000 jews entered the Old City, attacking local Arab residents and shop keepers. Videos after videos showed the aggression and violence. Well I'm just glad no one died. And Hamas and Hezbullah had neither courage nor will to respond.

Still hot

Shade for a hot day

 Another very hot day today. Luckily my office has an aircon. I could work in relative comfort, but I pity the workers in the streets who have to endure the relentless sun beating down. Right now workers are putting up buntings and flags to prepare for the last day of May. We usually have a procession of Mary throughout the streets of the Christian Quarter to close the month of May.

Tomorrow will be a busy day because we must do everything before the Flag March begins and we're locked indoors to avoid being beaten by the extremist israelis who'll enter our Quarter with police protection. Yes we're not protected by the police but they are.

Prices have gone up so high it's almost impossible to buy anything anymore. Bread now costs twice its price. A 100% increase. The govt blames the Russo-Ukrainian war but the people say its the consequence of 2 years lockdown. Covid has slowed down imports. And the poorest people suffer. I've been buying soon to expire bread and distributing to the poor. It's not much but at least a few families will not go hungry.

Hot

Pigeons take a bath

 The weekend is setting in. Sabbath starts this evening when the sun sets. The City is getting more tense and police are increasing their presence. That's because Sunday is the Flag March where extremists jews will march by the thousands carrying flags through our Quarter. It's not only provocative but usually they vandalize our property. Sometimes they attack arab residents. I'll probably stay home as there'll be a sort of curfew. The public school opposite my house is preparing for this ... the police have taken over the highest floor and they've been working overnight with some fence of something. It's very noisy all night and the lights are shining very brightly in their workplace ... right through our windows. I couldn't sleep because of the light and noise.

Meantime the weather has risen to 32 degrees. It's hot and humid. The birds are flocking to the fountains at Palm Plaza, dipping into the cool waters. Some kids are also enjoying the waters ... while adults watched enviously. Being unable to sleep because of the heat and noise and lights shining into my room from the school, I start work at 2 or 3am ... correcting texts, reading, writing. By 7am I get very tired. But there's more work in the libraries and classes to teach. I can't wait for the exams to be over and the school closes. Then the students will leave for the summer holidays and our workload will take a short break.

I think I'll start planning my summer this weekend. For sure I'll have lots of masses to celebrate as many chaplains will also go for their holidays. I'll have to help out the konkani, eritrean and armenian Masses in several cities. And probably for a couple of filipino communities as well. It'll be a busy summer.

Turtle doves

Nesting dove in
our courtyard

 A stone was thrown at a passing car on the road to Nablus but the jewish passengers were only slightly hurt. This happens all the time ... jewish cars gets stoned by palestinians and palestinian cars get stoned by jewish settlers. It's a dangerous road ... a stretch of 40 km through the hills and valleys of Samaria with hardly any civilisation around. I had wanted to go to Nablus to see the MC sisters and their handicapped patients many times but the violence along the road is a big deterrent. I'll have to wait till things are calmer ... probably in winter before I'll try going there.

The weather continues to be hot as it's typically summer but the forecast is 35 degrees next week ... which should only occur in August. I guess if it's so hot now, August will get 40 degrees and above. One good thing about this extreme heat is it keeps everyone indoors ... so there'll be less violence in the streets. 

The turtle-doves are breeding well this year. They build very flimsy nests that get blown off when there's a strong wind. But many have now built nexts on window ledges and even on the statue of Mary in our courtyard. I feed them every morning and there're over 30 doves with sparrows that fly down for food. That gives them energy to have more fledglings. We need to repopulate the local birds because invasive crows and mynahs from Jordan have come and decimated their population by eating their eggs.

I know I've ben talking about my failing health but I've not be able to do anything about it. Going to a hospital checkup means a one day event, driving up to Nazareth which is 2 hrs away. I dislike the journey as I suffer from IBS. Yesterday the MC sisters cooked a little pansit for me but I had diarrhea after eating it. My stomach gets upset for any food that I eat now ... not just pansit. Even a sandwich. It's getting bad and there's no cure for IBS.

Jubilee

Sr. M. Divina 25th jubilee

 A rather busy morning today. I had to go to Bethlehem to bring food, clothes and other donations to the MC convent ... and celebrate Mass for the sisters. But they didn't tell me it was the 25th anniversary of Sr. Maria Divina and the sisters form the other 3 communities had all come for the celebration. What I thought to be a normal weekday half hour Mass became an hour long solemn Mass. However the car that picked me brought me to Bethlehem could not wait that long. After Mass I couldn't find the car and thought he left. That's a terrible prospect because I have to walk 2 km to the bus stop and then wait one and a half hours for the next bus to come and bring me back to Jerusalem. I can't walk that far and I can't wait that long at the bus stop. I suffer from IBS and that is very inconvenient for travelling.

Food donations to
Bethlehem

Luckily he did wait for me and we managed to return to Jerusalem by 12.30pm. And Sr. Kolbe the cook in Bethlehem made my favourite samosa and filipino pansit to bring home. I don't have to go hungry today.

My fingers and feet are still swollen ... from I think side-effects of the heavy medication I'm taking. I've yet to meet the doc to see what I can do about it ... I hope not taking more medicines to counter those side-effects. Too much chemicals in my body ... it's making me even worse than ever.

Sandstorm over

News crew on live

 Yesterday I stayed as much as possible at home because even though the sandstorm has officially blown away, there's still lots of particles in the air. Just going out to the terrace will get your eyes scratched by the fine desert sand. Still later in the evening I had to go to my office 1km away because I forgot to bring my bible home and I had class at 4am. Luckily another priest accompanied me along. I was afraid with my breathing and walking problems, plus the sandstorm and wearing the mask, I might faint along the way.

The recent string of shootings and deaths in Palestine by Israeli police is making everyone jumpy. You can feel the tension in the air but it's being suppressed by fear. But next week is Israel's Jerusalem Day when aggressive nationalists will march through the Muslim Quarter in the thousands. It's usually met with clashes with arabs, vandalism on muslim and christian property and several hours of curfew for us who live in the Quarter. It's very troublesome at least, scary and dangerous at worst. News crew continue to station themselves at Damascus Gate waiting for any breaking news or clashes.

I must start to reduce the amount of medication I'm taking. It's making my fingers and feet swollen. And I've lost a lot of appetite though I'm bloated. But with the Delta variant still active, I mustn't let my guard down. And now we have our first case of monkey pox in the country ... 

Another sandstorm

Sandstorm now

Another sandstorm today. Te sky is all yellow and dusty from sand blown in from Saudi Arabia. People are wearing masks to prevent breathing in the very fine dust. And the air is hot and dry. It's a very uncomfortable feeling and one get's tired very easily. We've been having sandstorms almost every week now. Climate change is affective us big time.

These days the streets are very quiet and empty of people. Even today which is the muslim and jewish weekend, Damascus Gate should be very crowded and shops would be open and bustling with business. But I noticed on my way home that almost all the shops are closed by 5pm and very few people are in the streets. Maybe it's the violent clashes of the past weeks. Maybe it's the heavy police presence everywhere. Maybe it's the sandstorm. 

And talking about violent clashes, this morning a 17 yr old arab was shot dead in Jenin during a police raid, the same refugee camp where our catholic journalist was killed last week. For sure tonight there'll be demonstrations and riots again in our street after the night prayer in the mosque. The fighting is raising tensions in our Quarter and it's no longer safe to walk alone in the alleys there.

Walking home used to easy for me but these past few months I realise I am alot weaker. I can't walk the 1km downhill home now. When I reach Damascus Gate which is 500m away, my legs turn to jelly. I get dizzy and need to sit. Then my legs can't carry me. When I reach Herod's Gate with difficulty, I begin to feel faint. I need to sit before I fall over and hurt myself ... and get robbed by the people there. Walking home is a challenge now and I struggle very much. My students here are preparing for my death ... to do all the practical stuff.