New Season

As the death toll in Syria grows higher daily,

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyir Erdogan comes to the Middle East

to slam and slander Israel.

Fatah is rallying for protests prior to the vote on a UN Statehood bid for Palestine.

Leaders seem to be benefiting from the “Arab Spring” even if their people are not.

How ironic it is that in the midst of all the tempest,

Standard & Poor upgraded Israeli’s credit rating to A+.

A microcosm of what is happening on the real streets can be found

  in and around Jerusalem’s Shaare Zedek Hospital.

Everyday, all day and night, new patients check into Emergency,

 the doctors strike may have  increased the number of patients coming to this ER.

There is a shortage of beds and overcrowding, but construction of a new building

and, as everywhere in Jerusalem, a shortage of parking spaces.

A cross-section of the population, Arab and Israeli, religious and not,

pass through the courtyard which is being renovated,

 often it is easier to enter by way of the ER entrance.

Inside, the days go into night with a rhythm and routine,

a cycle of new life and death,

so many amazing photos we can not show for ethical reasons.

While on the outside,

a Red Crescent ambulance sped in so fast it was impossible to photograph.

The  Betar practice field near-by is getting ready for the new soccer season.

Many and varied musical programs were performed,

 this one, by the Voca People, was held at the Israel Museum.

Down the road, the pomegranates at the Botanical Gardens look almost ripe.

No one knows when or how the “Arab Spring” will end,

but in Jerusalem there is evidence of a new season.

Protest Movements

Millions of shekels worth

of baby strollers were moving

  along the sidewalks of King George Street in Jerusalem on Sunday afternoon.

The “Stroller Parade” was a protest against, along other things,

the high cost of child care, baby formula and diapers,

and the press was there to capture it all.

The parade ended at the Gan Hasoos, Horse Park, site of one “tent city” camps,

where entertainment for the children was provided in the amphitheatre. 

Some of the young demonstrators were actively involved,

 others not so excited by the event,

and at least one moved at their own pace.

An impressive display of strollers…but for many people the cool breeze

that broke the heat wave was the best part of the evening.

And finally after almost 140 days, 

there is movement in the Israeli Medical Association protest.

 Shaare Zedek Hospital emergency room was standing room only

 Sunday night and well into the Monday morning hours.

 Most patients had to wait for hours before being seen by a doctor.

Patients are routinely assigned to beds in the halls.

More doctors and more hospital beds would be a good move for all.

Social justice demands have received full media coverage this summer.

Meanwhile, already in 2011, southern Israel

has had over 340 rockets and mortars fired from Gaza,

with several this week.     Yet…week after week,

Israel has sent hundreds of truckloads of goods and fuel into Gaza.

The tents in Jerusalem should be long gone by winter,

the doctor, hospital and housing shortages

will take a lot longer to fix than the price of cottage (cheese).

How long will it take for the world to move and protest

on the indiscriminate bombing of innocent civilians?

 

More “protest” photos on The Real Jerusalem Streets Facebook page.