Thursday, September 13, 2007
Friday, July 20, 2007
CD covers and stapled papers
There are some everyday things that work in a certain way, and that certain way is so ingrained within us that we do not even think about them. Of course CD covers open a certain way, and when we staple papers together we expect them to be stapled in a certain way. Well not here in Israel, where, pretty obviously because the language is written from right to left, other things also work 'in reverse' compared to how the West does them.
So when you sign papers in the bank and the lady staples a bundle of papers together and hands them to you, of course, they are stapled at the top right-hand corner.
And when you open a CD cover, of course, they open like a Hebrew book, opening from what we in the West would think of as the back.
So when you sign papers in the bank and the lady staples a bundle of papers together and hands them to you, of course, they are stapled at the top right-hand corner.
And when you open a CD cover, of course, they open like a Hebrew book, opening from what we in the West would think of as the back.
Tzitzit
The Torah mandates that a man should wear fringes on the corners of a four-cornered garment. It is accepted in the Talmud that there is no requirement on a man to actually wear a four-cornered garment, and therefore it is easy enough to avoid having to wear tzitzit at all.
The conclusion of the Talmud is that while this is so, G-d watches over those who wear tzitzit just as those who wear them are reminded of G-d and the obigations in the Torah, when they wear them.
The garment here is in olive drab, for use by Israeli soldiers.
The conclusion of the Talmud is that while this is so, G-d watches over those who wear tzitzit just as those who wear them are reminded of G-d and the obigations in the Torah, when they wear them.
The garment here is in olive drab, for use by Israeli soldiers.
Thursday, July 5, 2007
Hebron: June 2007
Geography
Hebron lies approximately 20 miles (30 kilometres) south of Jerusalem in what is known as Judea and Samaria, or the West Bank, or 'the territories' or 'over the green line' or 'in the occupied territories'.
It is within the area that many of those on the left politically in Israel believe will or should be included in a future Palestinian State. And in what many of those on the right in Israel believe should always be part of Israel.
In the ancient centre of Hebron is the site of the Tomb of the Patriarchs, which is said to contain the tomb of Abraham, and by some to be the burial places of Abraham's wife Sarah, Isaac and Rebecah and Jacob and Leah. Some again hold that it is also the burial place of Adam and Eve. Certainly it has religious significance for people of all faiths.
The building on the site operates both as a mosque and as a synagogue, with separate entrances and praying areas for Jews and Moslems.
Historicaly, the town of Hebron grew around the site of the Tomb of the Patriarchs and spread westward. The old Suq or market lies just west of the Tomb of the Patriarchs in the centre of what is now area H2.
H1 and H2
Under the 1997 Oslo Accords, the town was divided into two areas, named H1 and H2.
H2 on the eastern side of the town includes the Tomb of the Patriarchs and the Suq, and the homes of thirty thousand Palestinians. Area H1, to the west of H2, is exclusively occupied by approximately one hundred and twenty thousand Palestinians.
Palestinians who live in H2 are allowed to travel into H1 and to return, but Palestinians who live in H1 are restricted in their right to travel into H2.
Israelis are allowed into H2 but not into H1. Israelis are, in fact, not allowed to travel into any Palestinian town in the West Bank and it is only the unique situation of a Jewish community in the centre of Hebron that makes travel to this town possible for an Israeli. Israelis must reach Hebron from Jerusalem on route 60. They are not allowed to travel on certain roads that are exclusively for Palestinians, and similarly the final stretch of the approach via route 60 is only for Israelis.
From the top of the hill at the westernmost end of H2 one can look north to the centre of H1 and see and hear the bustle and noise of the city. In contrast, H2 is more or less silent.
Kiryat Arba
Almost adjoining Hebron to the north-east, is the Israeli settlement of Kiryat Arba. Kiryat Arba presents a pleasant aspect to the world. It has palm-tree lined avenues fronting to presentable looking buildings. It is home to seven thousand Jews from the former Soviet Union and from Ethiopia who are there because living accomodation is cheaper than in for example, Jerusalem, rather than their for ideological reasons.
Approximately 600 Jews live in the centre of H2. Of these about 300 are a floating population who study in a yeshiva there and then return from whence they came outside Hebron. The other 300 are families that are then in the centre of Hebron for strong ideological reasons.
The Jewish presence in Hebron
The settlers today are carrying on a tradition of maintaining a Jewish presence in Hebron. Jews and Arabs lived in Hebron together through the centuries. In the early 20th century the land passed from being part of the Ottoman Empire to being within the British Mandate. As successive waves of Jewish immigrants came to the country in the latter part of the 19th century and early 20th century the number of Jews in Hebron reached approximately 800. They lived there until the massacre of 67 Jews by their Arab neighbours in 1929, following which what was left of the eight hundred strong Jewish community moved to Jerusalem and elsewhere.
The years leading up to the 1929 massacre were years when Jewish nationalism was in its formative stage. Other communities of Jews in Israel had offered weapons to the Jews of Hebron so they could defend themselves but the Jews of Hebron refused the offer.
The historical reasons for the massacre depend upon which side in the conflict one listens to. According to the Arabs, the massacre was in response to the surging Jewish nationalism that threatened their own national aspirations. According to the Jewish version it was because of the anti-Jewish inflamatory agitation of the Mufti of Jerusalem who spread false rumours following localised fighting that broke out in Jerusalem between Jews and Moslems after a Moslem service on the Temple Mount.
The situation in Hebron today
The role of the army and police in Hebron area H2 is to protect the settlers. As part of a greater plan implemented throughout the West Bank, this translates into separating the Palestinians from the Jews. To this end the army has made a buffer zone between the Jews and the Palestinians. They have closed off various streets to Palestinians, with the consequence that the Suq is now deserted. Shops are locked; others have been broken into and part-destroyed by the settlers in their attempts to extend their own influence.
Judging from some of the grafitti on the walls of locked storefronts in the Suq, some at least of the Jewish settlers in Hebron today view the refusal of the Hebron Jews to defend themselves in 1929 as akin to the 'lambs to the slaughter' passivity of the Jewish populations of Eastern Europe during the Holocaust.
Certainly the settlers view their own settlement in Hebron as continuing a forceful Jewish presence in what they consider is and always has been Israel. Many of the storefronts are daubed with Jewish Stars of David as a declaration that they have been 'claimed' by the settlers.
According to 'Breaking The Silence' - a Jewish organization formed of soldiers who had served on the West Bank and Gaza and wished to testify about their experiences - there is evidence over the past several years of the settlers expanding their presence in Hebron. The first stage in that incremental advance is to claim buildings lying in the buffer zone. Then, as the settlements expand, the buffer zone is extended.
This incremental advance can be seen also in the area lying between the settlements and Kiryat Arba and it appears that the eventual medium term intention is to physically link the two, rather than as now via route 60 that traverses land owned by Palestinians.
The reality for Palestinians in area H2
The issue of settlers in Hebron is sensitive and the attitude of successive Israeli governments has varied between open support to indifference. The role of the army and the police has mirrored this, with written orders contradicted by verbal orders given under the umbrella of temporary security measures.
Some temporary security measures have been in place for three years or more and so complainants have brought matters before the courts but with little long term resolution of the problems.
These problems include not being able to enter or leave their houses from the street but instead having to enter and exit over rooftops and rough ground. This is especially problematic for the very young or old or for those who are infirm or ill. Additionally, hundreds of curfew days have been imposed, some running several days consecutively, when the Palestinian population has been required to remain in their houses twenty four hours a day. No-one likes the situation but familiarity has bred an unfortunate acceptance of the situation.
Store front in what was the old suq of Hebron
An army patrol is given its orders
Memorial at the site where Jewish settlers were killed by Palestinians
Also from the memorial
Jewish presence in the buffer zone
Jewish presence in the buffer zone
Jewish presence in the buffer zone
Jewish presence in the buffer zone
Jewish presence in the buffer zone
Jewish presence in the buffer zone
Destroyed shop in the buffer zone
The green tent is an outpost of an expansion of the settlement between Kiryat Arba and Hebron
Destroyed shop in the buffer zone
Palestinian children looking on
Barrier along the buffer zone
Jewish presence in the buffer zone
View throught the grill in the cave of the Patriarchs.
Restricted vehicular traffic in the buffer zone
Hebron lies approximately 20 miles (30 kilometres) south of Jerusalem in what is known as Judea and Samaria, or the West Bank, or 'the territories' or 'over the green line' or 'in the occupied territories'.
It is within the area that many of those on the left politically in Israel believe will or should be included in a future Palestinian State. And in what many of those on the right in Israel believe should always be part of Israel.
In the ancient centre of Hebron is the site of the Tomb of the Patriarchs, which is said to contain the tomb of Abraham, and by some to be the burial places of Abraham's wife Sarah, Isaac and Rebecah and Jacob and Leah. Some again hold that it is also the burial place of Adam and Eve. Certainly it has religious significance for people of all faiths.
The building on the site operates both as a mosque and as a synagogue, with separate entrances and praying areas for Jews and Moslems.
Historicaly, the town of Hebron grew around the site of the Tomb of the Patriarchs and spread westward. The old Suq or market lies just west of the Tomb of the Patriarchs in the centre of what is now area H2.
H1 and H2
Under the 1997 Oslo Accords, the town was divided into two areas, named H1 and H2.
H2 on the eastern side of the town includes the Tomb of the Patriarchs and the Suq, and the homes of thirty thousand Palestinians. Area H1, to the west of H2, is exclusively occupied by approximately one hundred and twenty thousand Palestinians.
Palestinians who live in H2 are allowed to travel into H1 and to return, but Palestinians who live in H1 are restricted in their right to travel into H2.
Israelis are allowed into H2 but not into H1. Israelis are, in fact, not allowed to travel into any Palestinian town in the West Bank and it is only the unique situation of a Jewish community in the centre of Hebron that makes travel to this town possible for an Israeli. Israelis must reach Hebron from Jerusalem on route 60. They are not allowed to travel on certain roads that are exclusively for Palestinians, and similarly the final stretch of the approach via route 60 is only for Israelis.
From the top of the hill at the westernmost end of H2 one can look north to the centre of H1 and see and hear the bustle and noise of the city. In contrast, H2 is more or less silent.
Kiryat Arba
Almost adjoining Hebron to the north-east, is the Israeli settlement of Kiryat Arba. Kiryat Arba presents a pleasant aspect to the world. It has palm-tree lined avenues fronting to presentable looking buildings. It is home to seven thousand Jews from the former Soviet Union and from Ethiopia who are there because living accomodation is cheaper than in for example, Jerusalem, rather than their for ideological reasons.
Approximately 600 Jews live in the centre of H2. Of these about 300 are a floating population who study in a yeshiva there and then return from whence they came outside Hebron. The other 300 are families that are then in the centre of Hebron for strong ideological reasons.
The Jewish presence in Hebron
The settlers today are carrying on a tradition of maintaining a Jewish presence in Hebron. Jews and Arabs lived in Hebron together through the centuries. In the early 20th century the land passed from being part of the Ottoman Empire to being within the British Mandate. As successive waves of Jewish immigrants came to the country in the latter part of the 19th century and early 20th century the number of Jews in Hebron reached approximately 800. They lived there until the massacre of 67 Jews by their Arab neighbours in 1929, following which what was left of the eight hundred strong Jewish community moved to Jerusalem and elsewhere.
The years leading up to the 1929 massacre were years when Jewish nationalism was in its formative stage. Other communities of Jews in Israel had offered weapons to the Jews of Hebron so they could defend themselves but the Jews of Hebron refused the offer.
The historical reasons for the massacre depend upon which side in the conflict one listens to. According to the Arabs, the massacre was in response to the surging Jewish nationalism that threatened their own national aspirations. According to the Jewish version it was because of the anti-Jewish inflamatory agitation of the Mufti of Jerusalem who spread false rumours following localised fighting that broke out in Jerusalem between Jews and Moslems after a Moslem service on the Temple Mount.
The situation in Hebron today
The role of the army and police in Hebron area H2 is to protect the settlers. As part of a greater plan implemented throughout the West Bank, this translates into separating the Palestinians from the Jews. To this end the army has made a buffer zone between the Jews and the Palestinians. They have closed off various streets to Palestinians, with the consequence that the Suq is now deserted. Shops are locked; others have been broken into and part-destroyed by the settlers in their attempts to extend their own influence.
Judging from some of the grafitti on the walls of locked storefronts in the Suq, some at least of the Jewish settlers in Hebron today view the refusal of the Hebron Jews to defend themselves in 1929 as akin to the 'lambs to the slaughter' passivity of the Jewish populations of Eastern Europe during the Holocaust.
Certainly the settlers view their own settlement in Hebron as continuing a forceful Jewish presence in what they consider is and always has been Israel. Many of the storefronts are daubed with Jewish Stars of David as a declaration that they have been 'claimed' by the settlers.
According to 'Breaking The Silence' - a Jewish organization formed of soldiers who had served on the West Bank and Gaza and wished to testify about their experiences - there is evidence over the past several years of the settlers expanding their presence in Hebron. The first stage in that incremental advance is to claim buildings lying in the buffer zone. Then, as the settlements expand, the buffer zone is extended.
This incremental advance can be seen also in the area lying between the settlements and Kiryat Arba and it appears that the eventual medium term intention is to physically link the two, rather than as now via route 60 that traverses land owned by Palestinians.
The reality for Palestinians in area H2
The issue of settlers in Hebron is sensitive and the attitude of successive Israeli governments has varied between open support to indifference. The role of the army and the police has mirrored this, with written orders contradicted by verbal orders given under the umbrella of temporary security measures.
Some temporary security measures have been in place for three years or more and so complainants have brought matters before the courts but with little long term resolution of the problems.
These problems include not being able to enter or leave their houses from the street but instead having to enter and exit over rooftops and rough ground. This is especially problematic for the very young or old or for those who are infirm or ill. Additionally, hundreds of curfew days have been imposed, some running several days consecutively, when the Palestinian population has been required to remain in their houses twenty four hours a day. No-one likes the situation but familiarity has bred an unfortunate acceptance of the situation.
Store front in what was the old suq of Hebron
An army patrol is given its orders
Memorial at the site where Jewish settlers were killed by Palestinians
Also from the memorial
Jewish presence in the buffer zone
Jewish presence in the buffer zone
Jewish presence in the buffer zone
Jewish presence in the buffer zone
Jewish presence in the buffer zone
Jewish presence in the buffer zone
Destroyed shop in the buffer zone
The green tent is an outpost of an expansion of the settlement between Kiryat Arba and Hebron
Destroyed shop in the buffer zone
Palestinian children looking on
Barrier along the buffer zone
Jewish presence in the buffer zone
View throught the grill in the cave of the Patriarchs.
Restricted vehicular traffic in the buffer zone
Thursday, June 21, 2007
Gay Parade in Jerusalem June 2007
Holding a parade such as this here in Jerusalem is a touchy issue because of the biblical prohibition on homosexuality.
It has been pointed out that there are biblical prohibitions on murder, theft and many other matters that do not arouse the same public displays of strong feelings. Of course, in the eyes of some, flaunting forbidden matters in a parade might be seen to bring shame upon the holy city.
Indeed some people we have spoken to, say they would rather not see the parade here. Others think there are more serious issues that should incite strong feelings - government corruption, child poverty, and the very divisions between factions that require the presence of 7,000 policemen in order to maintain order.
Whatever the feelings, 7,000 policeman were drafted in to keep the opposing groups apart. For the time we were there, both sides were peaceful in the main, with one or two distasteful exceptions.
The news reported that there were very few incidents of any kind on the day.
The roads were blocked by the police and almost no traffic could enter the city centre
For many in the army and the police it was a relaxing time - but then, the army has made a national badge of honour out of being relaxed
On one side of the barrier soldiers stood guard and on the other side of the barrier, those in the parade enjoyed themselves
The rainbow banner
Untitled
A man looks on thoughtfully from a respectful distance
It has been pointed out that there are biblical prohibitions on murder, theft and many other matters that do not arouse the same public displays of strong feelings. Of course, in the eyes of some, flaunting forbidden matters in a parade might be seen to bring shame upon the holy city.
Indeed some people we have spoken to, say they would rather not see the parade here. Others think there are more serious issues that should incite strong feelings - government corruption, child poverty, and the very divisions between factions that require the presence of 7,000 policemen in order to maintain order.
Whatever the feelings, 7,000 policeman were drafted in to keep the opposing groups apart. For the time we were there, both sides were peaceful in the main, with one or two distasteful exceptions.
The news reported that there were very few incidents of any kind on the day.
The roads were blocked by the police and almost no traffic could enter the city centre
For many in the army and the police it was a relaxing time - but then, the army has made a national badge of honour out of being relaxed
On one side of the barrier soldiers stood guard and on the other side of the barrier, those in the parade enjoyed themselves
The rainbow banner
Untitled
A man looks on thoughtfully from a respectful distance
Saturday, June 9, 2007
Jerusalem
A doorway on Emek Refaim Street.
This street, south-west of the Old City, is in what is generally known as the German Colony. For locals it also marks the boundary of Katamon, which is an area that before the 1948 war, was a mixed Christian and Arab neighbourhood. This doorway dates from the Ottoman Period, as is seen from the inscription above the doorway.
Fruit and vegetables
Everywhere in Jerusalem and throughout Israel, there are fruit and vegetable shops, with stalls that spill out onto the street.
And whenever a Jerusalemite seeks to compare the benefits of living in Jerusalem with living in one of the capitals of Europe or of one of the major cities in the USA, at some point, the high quality of the fruit and vegetables available here will be mentioned.
This street, south-west of the Old City, is in what is generally known as the German Colony. For locals it also marks the boundary of Katamon, which is an area that before the 1948 war, was a mixed Christian and Arab neighbourhood. This doorway dates from the Ottoman Period, as is seen from the inscription above the doorway.
Fruit and vegetables
Everywhere in Jerusalem and throughout Israel, there are fruit and vegetable shops, with stalls that spill out onto the street.
And whenever a Jerusalemite seeks to compare the benefits of living in Jerusalem with living in one of the capitals of Europe or of one of the major cities in the USA, at some point, the high quality of the fruit and vegetables available here will be mentioned.
Only in Israel?
A brit mila or circumcision kit on the shelf of a local pharmacy in Jerusalem
Sign at Shareh Chesed Hospital in Jerusalem
Sign at Shareh Chesed Hospital in Jerusalem
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
The Psychology of driving
As I left the house today a woman slowed down in her car and slowly edged forward while drifting to the wrong side of the road. She appeared to be looking for a particular house or apartment building.
After a few seconds she started off more quickly again, but of course she was on the wrong side of the road. Meanwhile a car had come up close behind her and started to pass. When the woman in front set off and started to drift to the correct side of the road, the other driver blasted his horn long and loud, and swerved around her.
Which got me thinking about the psychology of interpersonal behaviour in the context of driving.
In a country where the vast majority of drivers ’stick to the rules’ and drive in a predictable way, any deviation from that behaviour immediately sends signals to other drivers, who ’sit up’, ‘pay attention’ and act accordingly. If they are skilled (and in the main, drivers are skilled) they will hold back a little and allow the incident to develop. They will not rush forward, come what may.
But in Israel, where the number of drivers who drive in unpredictable ways is much higher than in the United Kingdom, Western Europe or the U.S.A., the result is that skilled drivers are most apt to see erratic behaviour as ‘normal’.
And what is ‘normal’ does not rise into consciousness and does not attract a driver’s attention. Of course they could remain on ‘high alert’ all the time, but that is not a realistic response. The toll on the psyche would be too much. Each journey would stretch them to breaking point. So instead of being on ‘high alert’ all the time, they do what anyone does in a given situation - they get used to it.
And so, in the case of the incident today, the driver who came up behind the wandering driver, did not see anything unusual in the fact that the wanderer was on the wrong side of the road and edging forward. He saw no reason to slow down or hang back to see what might evolve.
On the contrary, he did what most Israelis do when there is a slow car in front of them. He came as close as he could without actually hitting the car in front, and then continued past it.
So when the car in front speeded up and started to drift to the correct side of the road, the driver behind was not prepared for that to happen and could not react ‘properly’.
Now the definition of ‘properly’ in my opinion, is to drive with caution, allowing space for things to unfold. In Israel the definition of driving properly to avoid incidents is to drive through the incident as quickly as possible.
And what happens if someone does hold back and take a more conservative or rational view of how best to deal with bad driving? Every car around will blast its horn at the the poor slob who failed to maintain forward momentum.
And what can we think about what will happen in the longer term in a country with such driving behaviour?
As each incident succeeds the last, the general spiral downward is to a country of people who are prepared to see almost any driving behaviour as normal, and thus become less and less able to react properly when things happen that threaten them.
Perhaps this goes some way to explaining the large number of accidents in this country, for as often as not, it involves more than one car.
After a few seconds she started off more quickly again, but of course she was on the wrong side of the road. Meanwhile a car had come up close behind her and started to pass. When the woman in front set off and started to drift to the correct side of the road, the other driver blasted his horn long and loud, and swerved around her.
Which got me thinking about the psychology of interpersonal behaviour in the context of driving.
In a country where the vast majority of drivers ’stick to the rules’ and drive in a predictable way, any deviation from that behaviour immediately sends signals to other drivers, who ’sit up’, ‘pay attention’ and act accordingly. If they are skilled (and in the main, drivers are skilled) they will hold back a little and allow the incident to develop. They will not rush forward, come what may.
But in Israel, where the number of drivers who drive in unpredictable ways is much higher than in the United Kingdom, Western Europe or the U.S.A., the result is that skilled drivers are most apt to see erratic behaviour as ‘normal’.
And what is ‘normal’ does not rise into consciousness and does not attract a driver’s attention. Of course they could remain on ‘high alert’ all the time, but that is not a realistic response. The toll on the psyche would be too much. Each journey would stretch them to breaking point. So instead of being on ‘high alert’ all the time, they do what anyone does in a given situation - they get used to it.
And so, in the case of the incident today, the driver who came up behind the wandering driver, did not see anything unusual in the fact that the wanderer was on the wrong side of the road and edging forward. He saw no reason to slow down or hang back to see what might evolve.
On the contrary, he did what most Israelis do when there is a slow car in front of them. He came as close as he could without actually hitting the car in front, and then continued past it.
So when the car in front speeded up and started to drift to the correct side of the road, the driver behind was not prepared for that to happen and could not react ‘properly’.
Now the definition of ‘properly’ in my opinion, is to drive with caution, allowing space for things to unfold. In Israel the definition of driving properly to avoid incidents is to drive through the incident as quickly as possible.
And what happens if someone does hold back and take a more conservative or rational view of how best to deal with bad driving? Every car around will blast its horn at the the poor slob who failed to maintain forward momentum.
And what can we think about what will happen in the longer term in a country with such driving behaviour?
As each incident succeeds the last, the general spiral downward is to a country of people who are prepared to see almost any driving behaviour as normal, and thus become less and less able to react properly when things happen that threaten them.
Perhaps this goes some way to explaining the large number of accidents in this country, for as often as not, it involves more than one car.
Friday, May 25, 2007
Monday, May 21, 2007
Sunday, May 20, 2007
Hear O Israel
Israeli mentality
If the behaviour of Israeli drivers and 'plane passengers indicates anything about the population at large, it is that Israelis are not natural followers of rules. Which is interesting, given that the 'rules' of behaviour in Judaism cover every moment of the day from waking until sleeping and affect what and how a person should think as well as what a person should and should not do.
Perhaps it is precisely because of the religious rules, (not that everyone follows them) that anything that does not fall in that category is subject to the question - 'why?' and to the attitude that the rules do not apply to me. Or that there are rules, but that those rules are intended to provide a general framework, but they are not meant to apply automatically to me or to any particular instance or person, unless a specific case can be made out to show that they do.
And perhaps it is because Jews have been negotiating with G-d since Abraham's plea on behalf of Sodom and Gomorrah, that they know every side of an argument and how to make it.
Israel today
Any statements made to describe Israel today and to explain how Israel came to be as it is, are bound to be the subject of debate.
Some questions are more intractable than others. The resurgence in religious observance is perhaps intractable without taking a metaphysical dimension into account.
But perhaps aspects of social and economic life can be looked at and their origins pried from history.
I have been disturbed by some of the statistics concerning povery in Israel. I wonder how and why this situation arose. First though let us look at some of the statistics and see what they tell us about Israel today.
The Gini Index measures how skewed a country is in terms of who 'has' and who 'has-not' in terms of income. A figure of 0 means the country enjoys total equality of earnings and a figure of 100 means a country suffers from total inequality of earnings - neither of which can be found in the real world.
The limits of the real-world figures are between 20 and 70. A figure of 70 would reflect a substantial number of 'haves' and a substantial number of 'have-nots' and a big gap in the standard of living between the two groups.
The Scandinavian countries have Gini figures of around 25. The South American countries have figures in the 55 to 60 range, and the majority of the countries of Africa have figures in the 60 to 70 range. The U.S. has a Gini figure of 41. The U.K. has a figure of 36, which figure is typical for Western Europe. The Gini figure for Israel is 39.2.
So on the face of those figures, Israel is not doing too badly, particularly bearing in mind how young a country it is.
A very small number of 'haves' and a large number of 'have-nots' would however still produce quite a low Gini figure, so of itself, the Gini figure can mask a country of a few wealthy people and a mass of much poorer people.
And that is precisely the allegation that is made about the trend in Israeli society from its socialist syndicalist utopian origins to the country it is today. Instead of that utopia it is said by some to be controlled lock, stock and barrel by a very, very few. A few who control assets of such dimensions that the merchant navy did not approach the shores of Northern Israel during the 2006 Lebanon conflict because that navy is owned by one small group, who did not want to expose their assets to damage.
The gap between the rich and the poor in Israel has increased by nearly a quarter in the last twenty years and Israel now has the second-worst level of inequality ― in terms of income, property, capital, education and spending ― in the Western world. The wealthiest 10% of Israelis own nearly three quarters of the country's private capital, and earn more than 12 times as much as the poorest 10%.
The State is sixty years old, and has to meet huge demands from the increase in its population. It has to maintain a war-readiness and has had to do so throughout its history. But this does not serve to explain in terms that satisfy, the inequality from which Israeli society suffers.
According to The Ministry of Social Affairs, about one in five of Israel’s population lives under the poverty line ― defined as a $900 monthly income for a family of four, with food and cost of living in Israel comparable to costs in the U.S.A.
Further, one in three of Israel's children suffer poverty, an increase of 20 percent in the last five years. And one in eight children suffer from malnutrition.
The origins of the modern State of Israel
Jewish nationalism and the will to realise a Jewish homeland, arose in the late 1800s. It arose among Jews in Europe at a time that similar feelings of national self-determination arose in the populations of countries in Europe and further abroad.
When the vision of Zionism was created in the late 1800s, it was not inspired by the Biblical prophets, or by religious vision. It was a secular vision.
And as it matured and emerged into the 20th century it showed more than one strand of that dream.
The Zionist dream was of a homeland for the Jews. The socialist dream was of a country founded on a network of cooperating communities and nationhood was not its principal aim; for in accordance with socialist principles, that State would fall away and wither with the coming of active socialism. The Revisionist Zionist dream that emerged in the 1920s was of a State, defended as a State.
In terms of numbers, and the role it played in the identity and values of the people, the greatest dream was the socialist dream. That dream was to found a society that did not simply support social justice and social harmony but which was just through to its core.
That identity would be forged by the pride of men and women making the new homeland through their own physical efforts. They did not want to be middlemen. They did not want to win in the game of acquiring wealth at the expense of others or of living life off the backs of others.
They were motivated by a desire to distance themselves from the 'old' Jewish identity. To them, that old identity existed in Eastern Europe, and was ghetto-ized, suspicious, inward-looking, looking back into history, and removed from the land.
The new identity would be forged in working the land, and it would be inclusive, socialist, and forward-looking.
As history played out in the late 1800s and early 1900s, Jews who wanted to immigrate would make ties in their various counties or origin, with a local political party or with an organization with ties to a political party. In the nature of political parties, they would have an agenda, and aspirations in regard to the society they sought to found. The immigrant tied himself to the agenda and ideals of the party and his immigration would be supported financially by the party. His first port of call on arriving at Haifa, would usually be local party headquarters.
The kibbutz movement is a well-known face of the wider socialist movement.
The later immigrants who came in the 1930s and all the way through to the fateful date of October 1941 when Germany closed its doors to Jewish emigration, came to escape, but is not so obvious that they had clear ideals of what they expected or wanted Jewish society to be in British-Mandate Palestine.
So when the Second World War ended and the 1947 UN declaration to found the State of Israel was made, the model of the organization and values of the future society was already well-established. It was a socialist enterprise. It did not embrace religious Judaism, and the religious groups had to fight for influence in the new society. An uneasy truce ensued.
When the State became a reality in 1948, it was already established along socialist principles that dug deep into the psyche of the population.
And so when Israel faced attacks from neighboring countries in 1948, it was a rude awakening for many who expected they would build a new society without the added problem of defending their very existence.
What the body of the Jewish population did not grasp or did not want to grasp was that there was an Arab population living in the land who were also feeling the awakening of nationalist feelings. Nothing less than self-government would do for them. At the same time, the surrounding countries had a vision of a greater pan-Arab region, and the sliver of land that comprised a newly formed Jewish country physically dividing and splitting the region east from west, stood in the way of that vision.
The State of Israel was attacked as soon as it was established. At the end of the conflict, the Arabs had fled or left or gone - to integrate into other societies or to refugee camps.
There are arguments about how many Arabs were within the borders of the new State of Israel at the start of the 1948 war, and how many fled (and why) when the 1948 war erupted; and how long those Arabs had been living where they were before they fled. And there are arguments about who those Arabs were and are. There are arguments about what makes a Palestinian, and whether they have any characteristics that distinguish them from other Arabs in the region at large.
Facts and numbers have been put forward and in turn they have been attacked and discredited. Each side is accused of having its agenda in promoting its calculation of the correct figures.
All of which paled into insignificance with the outcome of the 1967 war. At the end of that war, Israel had made territorial gains. Within that territory were somewhere between one and a half and two and a half million Palestinians. Suddenly Israel was an occupying power.
Israel, land of the Jews; land of the people who had been dispossessed of their land for two thousand years. Israel, land of the people who had been subjected to scorn, discrimination, segregation, and organized murder on an immense scale. What were they going to do about the Palestinians over whom they now had the power to respect or to scorn; to embrace or discriminate against; to form a society with or to keep apart; to work with or to fight?
And with the best of intentions, how could years of hatred be quieted?
Israel was founded by 'western' Jews. Jews from the 'east' arrived when they were expelled from the Arab countries in which they lived, following the 1948 war and the 1956 war. For twenty or thirty years they squeezed themselves into a society that did not value their culture or their expertise, but which demanded of them allegiance to a socialist ideal that was as far removed from their cultural knowledge as can be imagined.
The Labour parties won victory after victory in the first thirty years of the existence of the State. And then in 1977 the center-right party won the national elections based upon the support of the eastern Jews. Then began the dismantling of the socialist machine.
These two major events - the Palestinians within the occupied West Bank and Gaza, and the revolution in the nature of society from socialist to free market - have transformed Israel in the last thirty years.
Time after time I have heard people complain of the disintegration of the best aspects of Israeil society.
Part 2 to follow in the coming weeks.
If the behaviour of Israeli drivers and 'plane passengers indicates anything about the population at large, it is that Israelis are not natural followers of rules. Which is interesting, given that the 'rules' of behaviour in Judaism cover every moment of the day from waking until sleeping and affect what and how a person should think as well as what a person should and should not do.
Perhaps it is precisely because of the religious rules, (not that everyone follows them) that anything that does not fall in that category is subject to the question - 'why?' and to the attitude that the rules do not apply to me. Or that there are rules, but that those rules are intended to provide a general framework, but they are not meant to apply automatically to me or to any particular instance or person, unless a specific case can be made out to show that they do.
And perhaps it is because Jews have been negotiating with G-d since Abraham's plea on behalf of Sodom and Gomorrah, that they know every side of an argument and how to make it.
Israel today
Any statements made to describe Israel today and to explain how Israel came to be as it is, are bound to be the subject of debate.
Some questions are more intractable than others. The resurgence in religious observance is perhaps intractable without taking a metaphysical dimension into account.
But perhaps aspects of social and economic life can be looked at and their origins pried from history.
I have been disturbed by some of the statistics concerning povery in Israel. I wonder how and why this situation arose. First though let us look at some of the statistics and see what they tell us about Israel today.
The Gini Index measures how skewed a country is in terms of who 'has' and who 'has-not' in terms of income. A figure of 0 means the country enjoys total equality of earnings and a figure of 100 means a country suffers from total inequality of earnings - neither of which can be found in the real world.
The limits of the real-world figures are between 20 and 70. A figure of 70 would reflect a substantial number of 'haves' and a substantial number of 'have-nots' and a big gap in the standard of living between the two groups.
The Scandinavian countries have Gini figures of around 25. The South American countries have figures in the 55 to 60 range, and the majority of the countries of Africa have figures in the 60 to 70 range. The U.S. has a Gini figure of 41. The U.K. has a figure of 36, which figure is typical for Western Europe. The Gini figure for Israel is 39.2.
So on the face of those figures, Israel is not doing too badly, particularly bearing in mind how young a country it is.
A very small number of 'haves' and a large number of 'have-nots' would however still produce quite a low Gini figure, so of itself, the Gini figure can mask a country of a few wealthy people and a mass of much poorer people.
And that is precisely the allegation that is made about the trend in Israeli society from its socialist syndicalist utopian origins to the country it is today. Instead of that utopia it is said by some to be controlled lock, stock and barrel by a very, very few. A few who control assets of such dimensions that the merchant navy did not approach the shores of Northern Israel during the 2006 Lebanon conflict because that navy is owned by one small group, who did not want to expose their assets to damage.
The gap between the rich and the poor in Israel has increased by nearly a quarter in the last twenty years and Israel now has the second-worst level of inequality ― in terms of income, property, capital, education and spending ― in the Western world. The wealthiest 10% of Israelis own nearly three quarters of the country's private capital, and earn more than 12 times as much as the poorest 10%.
The State is sixty years old, and has to meet huge demands from the increase in its population. It has to maintain a war-readiness and has had to do so throughout its history. But this does not serve to explain in terms that satisfy, the inequality from which Israeli society suffers.
According to The Ministry of Social Affairs, about one in five of Israel’s population lives under the poverty line ― defined as a $900 monthly income for a family of four, with food and cost of living in Israel comparable to costs in the U.S.A.
Further, one in three of Israel's children suffer poverty, an increase of 20 percent in the last five years. And one in eight children suffer from malnutrition.
The origins of the modern State of Israel
Jewish nationalism and the will to realise a Jewish homeland, arose in the late 1800s. It arose among Jews in Europe at a time that similar feelings of national self-determination arose in the populations of countries in Europe and further abroad.
When the vision of Zionism was created in the late 1800s, it was not inspired by the Biblical prophets, or by religious vision. It was a secular vision.
And as it matured and emerged into the 20th century it showed more than one strand of that dream.
The Zionist dream was of a homeland for the Jews. The socialist dream was of a country founded on a network of cooperating communities and nationhood was not its principal aim; for in accordance with socialist principles, that State would fall away and wither with the coming of active socialism. The Revisionist Zionist dream that emerged in the 1920s was of a State, defended as a State.
In terms of numbers, and the role it played in the identity and values of the people, the greatest dream was the socialist dream. That dream was to found a society that did not simply support social justice and social harmony but which was just through to its core.
That identity would be forged by the pride of men and women making the new homeland through their own physical efforts. They did not want to be middlemen. They did not want to win in the game of acquiring wealth at the expense of others or of living life off the backs of others.
They were motivated by a desire to distance themselves from the 'old' Jewish identity. To them, that old identity existed in Eastern Europe, and was ghetto-ized, suspicious, inward-looking, looking back into history, and removed from the land.
The new identity would be forged in working the land, and it would be inclusive, socialist, and forward-looking.
As history played out in the late 1800s and early 1900s, Jews who wanted to immigrate would make ties in their various counties or origin, with a local political party or with an organization with ties to a political party. In the nature of political parties, they would have an agenda, and aspirations in regard to the society they sought to found. The immigrant tied himself to the agenda and ideals of the party and his immigration would be supported financially by the party. His first port of call on arriving at Haifa, would usually be local party headquarters.
The kibbutz movement is a well-known face of the wider socialist movement.
The later immigrants who came in the 1930s and all the way through to the fateful date of October 1941 when Germany closed its doors to Jewish emigration, came to escape, but is not so obvious that they had clear ideals of what they expected or wanted Jewish society to be in British-Mandate Palestine.
So when the Second World War ended and the 1947 UN declaration to found the State of Israel was made, the model of the organization and values of the future society was already well-established. It was a socialist enterprise. It did not embrace religious Judaism, and the religious groups had to fight for influence in the new society. An uneasy truce ensued.
When the State became a reality in 1948, it was already established along socialist principles that dug deep into the psyche of the population.
And so when Israel faced attacks from neighboring countries in 1948, it was a rude awakening for many who expected they would build a new society without the added problem of defending their very existence.
What the body of the Jewish population did not grasp or did not want to grasp was that there was an Arab population living in the land who were also feeling the awakening of nationalist feelings. Nothing less than self-government would do for them. At the same time, the surrounding countries had a vision of a greater pan-Arab region, and the sliver of land that comprised a newly formed Jewish country physically dividing and splitting the region east from west, stood in the way of that vision.
The State of Israel was attacked as soon as it was established. At the end of the conflict, the Arabs had fled or left or gone - to integrate into other societies or to refugee camps.
There are arguments about how many Arabs were within the borders of the new State of Israel at the start of the 1948 war, and how many fled (and why) when the 1948 war erupted; and how long those Arabs had been living where they were before they fled. And there are arguments about who those Arabs were and are. There are arguments about what makes a Palestinian, and whether they have any characteristics that distinguish them from other Arabs in the region at large.
Facts and numbers have been put forward and in turn they have been attacked and discredited. Each side is accused of having its agenda in promoting its calculation of the correct figures.
All of which paled into insignificance with the outcome of the 1967 war. At the end of that war, Israel had made territorial gains. Within that territory were somewhere between one and a half and two and a half million Palestinians. Suddenly Israel was an occupying power.
Israel, land of the Jews; land of the people who had been dispossessed of their land for two thousand years. Israel, land of the people who had been subjected to scorn, discrimination, segregation, and organized murder on an immense scale. What were they going to do about the Palestinians over whom they now had the power to respect or to scorn; to embrace or discriminate against; to form a society with or to keep apart; to work with or to fight?
And with the best of intentions, how could years of hatred be quieted?
Israel was founded by 'western' Jews. Jews from the 'east' arrived when they were expelled from the Arab countries in which they lived, following the 1948 war and the 1956 war. For twenty or thirty years they squeezed themselves into a society that did not value their culture or their expertise, but which demanded of them allegiance to a socialist ideal that was as far removed from their cultural knowledge as can be imagined.
The Labour parties won victory after victory in the first thirty years of the existence of the State. And then in 1977 the center-right party won the national elections based upon the support of the eastern Jews. Then began the dismantling of the socialist machine.
These two major events - the Palestinians within the occupied West Bank and Gaza, and the revolution in the nature of society from socialist to free market - have transformed Israel in the last thirty years.
Time after time I have heard people complain of the disintegration of the best aspects of Israeil society.
Part 2 to follow in the coming weeks.
Saturday, May 19, 2007
The Temple Mount visits
Hitherto, rabbinic authorities have forbidden Jews from visiting the Temple Mount because the exact location of the Temple and the Holy of Holies on the Mount is unknown.
Consequently, the rabbis feared that Jews would enter the area without having first immersed in a mikva - which they should do in recognition of the holiness of the site - or would unwittingly set foot in the forbidden area where only the Kohen Gadol would ever enter.
On the 14th May 2007, a number of Ashkenazi, religious-Zionist rabbis visited the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, intending to encourage others to do the same.
Presumably the rabbis who entered were able to agree an area they could enter that definitely did not risk being the forbidden area.
Since the rabbis went onto the Temple Mount, other groups of religious Jews have done so.
These events stand in contrast to the experience of Sir Moses Montefiore in the 1860s, who, so some chroniclers record, was carried onto the Mount in a sedan chair (so his feet would not touch the holy ground) and whose visit led to a call by some Jerusalem rabbis for him to be excommunicated. It is recorded that he later expressed regret that he had breached the prohibition upon entering.
As background, Sir Moses Montefiore made a major contribution towards financing the establishment and developement of Jewish settlements in Palestine in the 1800s and this was important in the formation of Israeli society. For already, when the State of Israel became a reality in 1948, there was a network of communities, with their social and political ideals and systems, that were in place partly because of his financial assistance.
Consequently, the rabbis feared that Jews would enter the area without having first immersed in a mikva - which they should do in recognition of the holiness of the site - or would unwittingly set foot in the forbidden area where only the Kohen Gadol would ever enter.
On the 14th May 2007, a number of Ashkenazi, religious-Zionist rabbis visited the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, intending to encourage others to do the same.
Presumably the rabbis who entered were able to agree an area they could enter that definitely did not risk being the forbidden area.
Since the rabbis went onto the Temple Mount, other groups of religious Jews have done so.
These events stand in contrast to the experience of Sir Moses Montefiore in the 1860s, who, so some chroniclers record, was carried onto the Mount in a sedan chair (so his feet would not touch the holy ground) and whose visit led to a call by some Jerusalem rabbis for him to be excommunicated. It is recorded that he later expressed regret that he had breached the prohibition upon entering.
As background, Sir Moses Montefiore made a major contribution towards financing the establishment and developement of Jewish settlements in Palestine in the 1800s and this was important in the formation of Israeli society. For already, when the State of Israel became a reality in 1948, there was a network of communities, with their social and political ideals and systems, that were in place partly because of his financial assistance.
Friday, May 18, 2007
Palm Leaves
As the palm leaves grow and unfurl, thin fibrous strips from the edges of the leaves peel back and curl and twist around.
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Sunday, May 13, 2007
.. as one who was born in Jerusalem
IN honour of the coming week to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the reunification of Jerusalem, there is this quote.
Shmuel Yoseph Agnon, in his acceptance speech on receiving the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1966, said " through an historical catastrophe - the destruction of Jerusalem by the Emperor of Rome - I was born in one of the cities of the Diaspora. But I always deemed myself as one who was born in Jerusalem."
Shmuel Yoseph Agnon, in his acceptance speech on receiving the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1966, said " through an historical catastrophe - the destruction of Jerusalem by the Emperor of Rome - I was born in one of the cities of the Diaspora. But I always deemed myself as one who was born in Jerusalem."
Saturday, May 12, 2007
The hole in the city wall by Jaffa Gate
There is a wide entrance just by Jaffa Gate breached through the 16th century city walls that surround the Old City.
I read today that this section of the wall was knocked down and the opening made on the order of the Ottoman Sultan Abdulhamid II, so that his visitor, Kaiser Wilhelm II could arrive in style with his retinue without having to dismount from their horses and carriages
Although that article does not mention when he visited, a Lutheran website mentions the Kaizer 'building' the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer (which stands in the Christian Quarter of the Old City) in the late 1800s and dedicating it in 1898.
The breach in the walls would have made it convenient for General Allenby to enter on his horse when he entered the Old City in 1917, save that out of respect for the City and what it stood for, he entered on foot.
I read today that this section of the wall was knocked down and the opening made on the order of the Ottoman Sultan Abdulhamid II, so that his visitor, Kaiser Wilhelm II could arrive in style with his retinue without having to dismount from their horses and carriages
Although that article does not mention when he visited, a Lutheran website mentions the Kaizer 'building' the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer (which stands in the Christian Quarter of the Old City) in the late 1800s and dedicating it in 1898.
The breach in the walls would have made it convenient for General Allenby to enter on his horse when he entered the Old City in 1917, save that out of respect for the City and what it stood for, he entered on foot.
The lessons of History
I read that the Wingograd Committee has concluded that the army played too big a part in the decision-making at the political level during what is called the Second Lebanese War last Summer.
The Committee says this problem was compounded by the Government's lack of military experience.
It so happens that I am near the end of Amos Elon's 'The Israelis: Founders and Sons' and in Chaper 11 he writes that the external threats that make Israel a "nation in arms" make it ripe for militarism and a mentality that would ensure the supremacy of the army over the civil authorities.
And yet, he say, this is not the case. He talks about the army's comparative informality, the forced retirement of officers at an early age, the ideals of the unprofessional soldier, of the farmer who leaves his land to fight and then returns to pick up his plough.
Elon wrote this in 1972. Has the ideal been abandoned?
And a question I have. If war is defined as a state of usually open and declared armed hostile conflict between states or nations, or tribes, or groups, then how does a conflict between the State of Israel and Hizbollah meet that definition?
Of course we use the word 'war' in other senses - such as the 'war on terror' or the 'war against poverty'. And yet it seems dangerous culturally and psychologically to describe the conflict between the State of israel and a group of terrorist/freedom fighters/guerillas (you choose your definition) as a war.
Unless one considers it a proxy war between Israel and Syria/Iran.
The Committee says this problem was compounded by the Government's lack of military experience.
It so happens that I am near the end of Amos Elon's 'The Israelis: Founders and Sons' and in Chaper 11 he writes that the external threats that make Israel a "nation in arms" make it ripe for militarism and a mentality that would ensure the supremacy of the army over the civil authorities.
And yet, he say, this is not the case. He talks about the army's comparative informality, the forced retirement of officers at an early age, the ideals of the unprofessional soldier, of the farmer who leaves his land to fight and then returns to pick up his plough.
Elon wrote this in 1972. Has the ideal been abandoned?
And a question I have. If war is defined as a state of usually open and declared armed hostile conflict between states or nations, or tribes, or groups, then how does a conflict between the State of Israel and Hizbollah meet that definition?
Of course we use the word 'war' in other senses - such as the 'war on terror' or the 'war against poverty'. And yet it seems dangerous culturally and psychologically to describe the conflict between the State of israel and a group of terrorist/freedom fighters/guerillas (you choose your definition) as a war.
Unless one considers it a proxy war between Israel and Syria/Iran.
Friday, May 4, 2007
Tuesday, May 1, 2007
Monday, February 26, 2007
Lightroom and Aperture
I have been using Apple computers since the early eighties. I had an an Apple 2e and then a 2c and then, a lot later, we had (still have) a green G3 iMac. And now a G5 iMac and an intel Macbook Pro.
I have also been using PCs for about the same length of time, but as machines at work, mostly using WORD and EXCEL.
I like the graphical interface on Macs and the easy way everything can be found, moved, renamed, and played about with; seemingly without the restrictions that affect PCs.
I have been playing around with, but not seriously using, Aperture for a month or two. I haven't really enjoyed using it but I put that partly down to having to learn a new system of commands. I have had my hands full with other things and I half-promised myself I would sit down and learn more about Aperture when I had a clear head and a few hours to spare.
Meanwhile I have been following the development of Adobe Lightroom and a couple of days ago I downloaded it.
I am not going to make any comparisons of the capabilities of the two programs to 'develop' a digital negative because they are both good.
What I can say without doubt is that Aperture is slow compared to Lightroom and not as useable. Lightroom is fast and useable and it is such a pleasure to use brought a smile to my face.
One feature I really like in Lightroom is the 'compare' feature, where one can see the 'before' and 'after' states side by side as one develops an image with sharpening, white balance etc.
Another feature I like about Lightroom is the ability to export (i.e. save) images to the hard disk and Lightoom automatically makes a subfolder within the folder from which the original image came, titles it and saves the images there. It can make a large jpeg and a save-for-web jpeg so fast that I had to go check the image had really been saved.
And for some reason, the Ligthroom program is one quarter the size of Aperture (about 50MB compared to 200MB) - now why should that be?
I have also been using PCs for about the same length of time, but as machines at work, mostly using WORD and EXCEL.
I like the graphical interface on Macs and the easy way everything can be found, moved, renamed, and played about with; seemingly without the restrictions that affect PCs.
I have been playing around with, but not seriously using, Aperture for a month or two. I haven't really enjoyed using it but I put that partly down to having to learn a new system of commands. I have had my hands full with other things and I half-promised myself I would sit down and learn more about Aperture when I had a clear head and a few hours to spare.
Meanwhile I have been following the development of Adobe Lightroom and a couple of days ago I downloaded it.
I am not going to make any comparisons of the capabilities of the two programs to 'develop' a digital negative because they are both good.
What I can say without doubt is that Aperture is slow compared to Lightroom and not as useable. Lightroom is fast and useable and it is such a pleasure to use brought a smile to my face.
One feature I really like in Lightroom is the 'compare' feature, where one can see the 'before' and 'after' states side by side as one develops an image with sharpening, white balance etc.
Another feature I like about Lightroom is the ability to export (i.e. save) images to the hard disk and Lightoom automatically makes a subfolder within the folder from which the original image came, titles it and saves the images there. It can make a large jpeg and a save-for-web jpeg so fast that I had to go check the image had really been saved.
And for some reason, the Ligthroom program is one quarter the size of Aperture (about 50MB compared to 200MB) - now why should that be?
Thursday, February 15, 2007
Cat in a trough
This cat was sitting sunning itself in a small flower trough on top of a wall facing onto a residential street. It is a fine example of how relaxed many of the cats here are. As to why they are relaxed might best be left for a political analyst, a psychologist or a social anthropologist.
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
Flower Heads and the New Railway
in the Machene Yehudah market there is a shop selling spices, herbs, teas and flowers - like the flower heads here.
One part of the of the market is somewhat narrow and dark and intimate and seems older and further from the modern world than other parts. Which makes one think what the area will be like when the light railway that is intended to run along the road by the market, is built.
One part of the of the market is somewhat narrow and dark and intimate and seems older and further from the modern world than other parts. Which makes one think what the area will be like when the light railway that is intended to run along the road by the market, is built.
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