The Walls of the Holy Land

I don't know what you might have seen on CNN today, but where I am in Jerusalem everyone is getting along okay. (I know my viewpoint is superficial, but so is the media's.) I have walked the streets (in the Muslim and Jewish quarters) of the Old City today (and all week) and felt quite safe. We have also been to Galilee, Golan Heights (ate Druze bread), and down past Jericho and across the wall (they don't call it a fence here) to Bethlehem. Bethlehem is definitely not the same as last I was here (1999). Overall tourism seems down significantly, but in Bethlehem in particular many tours will just not criss the wall. Many stores are closed up.

At the Golan Heights we saw across the border to Syria and could almost see Damascus. Near there many Druze live and we had our lunch at a Druze restaurant. They have terraced the mountains over many years and have great orchards and other farming. The druze bread, a flat bread spread with yogurt and drizzled with olive oil and hyssop, was quite yummy.

The Western Wall yesterday. No particular signs of trouble, though there may have been a heavier police presence there. I am here with my 14 year old son and there were many boys of thirteen who had just celebrated their Bar Mitzvah recently getting a portrait in front of the Wall.