Western Wall

Friday Riots

rjstreets

Following weeks of drama and hype, doomsday scenarios

and talk of possible riots on the day Abu Mazen spoke at the United Nations,

we had to go and see what was really happening.

 Friday afternoon, September 23, 2011 in Jerusalem was no apocalypse.

Clashes may make the headlines, but on the real streets…

little children walked home from school,

 couples were out on dates and many streets were quieter than usual.

The United States Consulate told its employees to stay away from the Old City

and many overseas year programs told their students to stay away as well.

However, dozen of buses of tourists from around the world arrived all afternoon,

a Kim Clement tour group brought 11 bus loads of Christian visitors

to the Kotel, the Western Wall, and the Old City.

Meanwhile, a young woman sat with her little children in the Jewish Quarter

and little girls went by themselves for ice cream.

In the Arab shuk hundreds of people passed freely all afternoon.

There was no question that security precautions were higher than usual.

Did this tour group notice the ramp to the Temple Mount full of Israeli security

ready for trouble as the mid-day Muslim prayers ended?

But the number of Muslim worshipers passing thru the Jewish Quarter

was much less than on a regular Friday afternoon.

The season’s first rain clouds were gathering,

resulting in cooler temperatures and a few drops of rain!

Who could imagine that there would be more rain drops than protesters?

The police left, certainly relieved that there was nothing for them to do.

 Silwan seemed quiet and still,

as security people went home and Shabbat guests arrived.

A Muslim woman walked by a small group that gathered

 as Israeli Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch was ready to leave.

Israeli Police Chief  Yochanan Danino was all smiles as he got in his car

and seemed not to mind saying a little prayer before he left.

Clashes with Israeli soldiers make headlines,

but on Friday afternoon in Jerusalem

 the stores closed early for the Sabbath… not for riots.

Racist State

rjstreets

This September, the opening sessions of the United Nations in New York

are to host “Durban 3” and a Palestinian bid for statehood.

The United Nations seems to have forgotten that,

it voted on November 29, 1947 to partition the British Mandate of Palestine

into two states, one Jewish and one Arab.

Jewish people rolled up their sleeves, collected funds to buy land and built the land.

The Arab nations rejected the partition plan and attacked the new state of Israel.

In May 1948 the Jordanian legion captured and occupied Jerusalem,

the land to the east toward the Jordanian border became known as the West Bank.

Most of the land in the West Bank is hilly, rocky and until after 1967 was empty.

In 1964 when the Palestine Liberation Organization was founded,

there were no Jews allowed

to live in “East” Jerusalem,

which includes areas to the north, south and west of Jerusalem.

Mamilla was a no man’s land, needed to protect Israel from Jordanian snipers.

Today Mamilla is a shopping mall,

busy day and night

offering employment to many.

Under Jordanian occupation in 1948, all the Old City’s synagogues were destroyed

and all Jews were forced to flee their homes in the Jewish Quarter.

The recently restored Hurva Synagogue is no longer a hurva, a ruin,

and stands in the center of the re-established ancient Jewish neighborhood.

The Kotel, the Western Wall Plaza is now open to everyone.

 Arab families make use of the new light rail, when trains are working,

or ride the bus which is usually faster.

An Arab woman can walk alone unafraid in the center of Jerusalem.

Young Arab women sit and eat in the center of a main street crowd.

While the Palestinian Authority prepares to go to the UN for a state

which insists that it will not allow Jews and homosexuals,

Arabs live and work freely in Israeli Jerusalem.

At this new UN conference on racism,

will Israel once again be singled out as a racist state ?

Does the UN care at all about the truth?

After the Fasts

rjstreets

Not eating or drinking is called a “fast,”

but without water and morning coffee…”slow” would be more accurate for me.

 The Tisha B’Av fast started on Monday, August 8, 2011 at nightfall,

this post should have been out on Tuesday, but even after the fast…sorry–still slow.

 Mourning the destruction of Jerusalem in the reunified Jerusalem

is a unique experience.

 Tens of thousands of people gather at the Kotel, the Western Wall,

and sit on low chairs or on the stones to recite the sad verses of Eicha and Kinot.

For so many centuries,  The Book of Lamentations asks…Alas, how could it be?

Some opt to sit

 alone,

while others prefer to sit in small groups.  Many stay all night.

As the Jewish Quarter closed for the fast day,

 much of the Muslim Quarter was open

with colorful displays of food to break the Ramadan fast.

Colored lights lined the way of most

but not all the alleyways.

For the seventeenth year in a row,

  Women in Green assembled a large group in Gan Ha’atzmaut, Independence Park

 for prayers and speeches, followed by a walk around the walls of the Old City.

This year they shared the park with the “tent city” protesters

and the night with Ramadan celebrations.

 The march was to begin at 11 pm, much later than usual because of Ramadan.

 For the first time the marchers had to watch out for an empty light rail train.

  It was well after midnight when the group arrived at

Sha’ar Shechem,  the Damascus Gate.

Street vendors and Israeli flags filled the sidewalk and on to the street

 and families and more vendors kept coming.

 Security personnel watched the quiet scene.

After passing Herod’s and Lion’s Gates


the end of the route was in sight.

Dozens of idle buses lined the road ready to transport

 the hundreds of people still coming and going after 1:00am.

The Kotel entrance plaza was a busy place all night.

Near Jaffa Gate a new table was set up to sell photos of the Baba Elazar z”l.

While tens of thousands of people were out on Tisha B’Av in the Old City,

a few minutes away this normally busy intersection was deserted.

This year, Ramadan coincides with the month of August,

so devout Muslims will fast all day and at night crowds will gather to eat and shop.

Abu Sharif, a member of the PLO and former advisor to Arafat,

has called for “Friday intifadas during Ramadan”.

Walking around the Walls on Tisha B’Av concluded peacefully.

Last year thousands of Muslims prayed in Jerusalem every Friday of Ramadan.

It is possible to share the streets of Jerusalem peacefully.

 After the fast, as Israelis head to the airport and up north on vacation

…at least the streets should be a little less crowded.

 

More photos of  Walking around the Walls on The Real Jerusalem Facebook Page.