The blue, black, and white flag of Estonia 
was up during the visit of its President
Toomas Hendrik Ilves, but probably
more people were aware of the flags
of the countries playing in the World Cup
in South Africa, as soccer
fills the air waves and the minds
of all sports fans.
Thursday evening outside in Kikar Safra, basketballs were going up and coming down,
while inside at the Jerusalem city council meeting, it seemed that just tempers were going up.
The mayor called for a recess,
which gave Pepe Alalu time to move around and others to network.
When the meeting finally returned to Mayor Nir Barkat’s agenda,
the loud objections of Meretz’s Pepe Alalu to the King’s Garden development project filled the room.
Development and construction seem to be everywhere in Jerusalem;
building cranes can be seen in all directions.
School is out
and children are on the streets.
Wednesday was the last day of classes and 
sadly it seems the end of Ulpan Mitchell, a favorite site for new residents to meet and learn Hebrew.
With temperatures up
and vegetation dry,
the chance of fire is
great. A major fire
filled the skies with
smoke and caused
serious damage
in the Beit Shemesh
area near Jerusalem.
While there is no regular air traffic over Jerusalem,
Wednesday afternoon several helicopters were in and out of the Knesset landing pad.
Special Envoy George Mitchell was back in town.
Surely he noticed the growing protest over the more than four-year captivity of Gilad Shalit.
Yellow ribbons are popping up in many places.
What does not seem to be up is the voice of the International Red Cross,
which has not been allowed to visit him once in over four years of captivity.
As pressure is put on Prime Minster Binyamin Netanyahu to meet Hamas demands to release mass
murderers, where are the human rights organizations and the United Nations Human Rights Watch?
From around the world, people came to Jerusalem for June weddings,
each ceremony was filled with hope and the promise of new beginnings.
Look up and beyond the couple under the wedding canopy,
up to the walls of the Old City that look like they really are made of gold.
For centuries people have prayed for the welfare of Jerusalem,
again in these depressing times the promise of the future still brings hope.
