Fun in the park

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Fun at the big annual AACI Association of Americans and Canadians in Israel picnic at a Beer Sheva park.

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Jerusalem International Book Fair

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Every two years many foreign publishing houses flock to Jerusalem to talk and to exhibit at our International Book Fair.
Yesterday I traveled up to Jerusalem to sample their wares.

You wouldn't know it from the photo, but the pretty Austrian representative is hidden at her desk behind the flowers.
Sometimes, even more than the books, it is the people who leave the nicest and most lasting impression.
I loved hearing her accent in English, and I told her how I loved my month in beautiful Austria.
She gave me a booklet and a big map of the country.

The booth of the Esperanto League in Israel was pretty quiet.

A slideshow of Italy drew me in and made me really really want to go there.

Hopefully these program objectives are clearer in the original Russian.

For the first time ever, the fair took place inside the Hangar next to the First Station.
In previous years the venue was the more solid and impressive International Conference Center (Binyanei HaUma).

I left for my long homeward journey weighted down with four new books, but my wallet was a lot lighter.

More about the Fair in the coming posts.
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The Gay Pride parade that didn't happen

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I snapped this picture from my bus window late Thursday as we passed Beer Sheva City Hall.
The young people with the flags were starting to gather for what would be a demonstration of hundreds (some sources say thousands) outside the Municipality to protest the cancellation of the city’s first-ever Gay Pride parade.
Some points from a news report: 

Organizers had canceled the event Wednesday night to protest a High Court of Justice ruling that allowed police to bar participants from marching through the city’s main thoroughfare due to what police called “real concern” for participants’ safety in the face of threats. . . .

The petition asking the High Court to force police to allow the original parade route was filed earlier this week by the Beersheba Pride House and the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, who objected to the local LGBT community being relegated to side streets.

After the petition was filed, Beersheba police acknowledged its decision was also made to avoid “offending religious sentiments” in the area, and to prevent traffic disruptions that could delay vehicular access to the nearby Soroka Medical Center, the largest hospital in the country’s south.

For the full article please see The Times of Israel.
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Remembrance Day

Yom HaZikaron is the hardest, most painful day of the year for us.

To quote The Times of Israel --

"Israel’s Memorial Day for fallen soldiers and victims of terrorism formally began at 8:00 p.m. Tuesday as sirens wailed throughout the country, signalling a solemn minute of silence at the start of an annual remembrance marked with candle lightnings, memorial services and melancholy songs.
This year’s memorials commemorate 23,447 men and women who have died in uniform or as victims of terror attacks. The past year saw 68 Israeli soldiers and police die in the line of duty, as well as 32 civilians killed in terror attacks.
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The Defense Ministry’s Families and Commemoration Department expects some 1.5 million visitors at the nation’s 52 military cemeteries and hundreds of smaller military sections in civilian cemeteries.

Wednesday morning’s commemorations begin at 11:00 a.m. with a two-minute memorial siren that will bring the country to a standstill and launch the official state ceremony at the Mount Herzl national military cemetery, as well as military cemeteries nationwide."

--Read more in the article,  With silence and song, Israelis commemorate 23,447 fallen

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(Linking to ABC Wednesday.)

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Embassy of France in Vienna

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Flags at half-mast this morning at the French embassy in Vienna.

Many Austrian police at the gate.

"Je suis Paris" and hand-written letters were being brought by citizens.
(Photos can be much enlarged with a click or two.)

This afternoon I passed the embassy again.  More flowers.  More people standing in silence, in shock and in sympathy.

What a sad day for France and for the civilized world.
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Rainbow flags of Tel Aviv

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Tel Aviv has long been known in the world as a very gay-friendly city.

UPDATE/Correction: A reader adds that the rainbow flag in the photo above has nothing to do with gay pride. See more in the comments. 

Here are some of Tel Aviv's many rainbow flags that I photographed a week ago, way before yesterday's decision by the U.S. Supreme Court.

You might be surprised by some things in the Wikipedia article LGBT rights in Israel.
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Oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light / What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?

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The setting sun glowed tonight through an Israeli flag.
The roundabout at the center of Meitar has been decked out with flags for the last month.

The sun dips into the Mediterranean Sea, along the beaches of the Gaza Strip, which is about 30 miles or 50 km west of my town.

We are in the third day of a 3-day ceasefire.
If we awake to Red Alert sirens early tomorrow morning you will know that Hamas did not extend the ceasefire, and we will be watching the sky for in-coming rockets.
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Linking to Sky Watch Friday.
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UPDATE Friday morning:  Promptly at 8:00 am Hamas renewed their rocket fire.
In the last two hours 20 rockets were fired at our south. 
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Norway in Jerusalem

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City Daily Photo bloggers are having a mid-month theme day in honor of Norway's Constitution Day.
There is not a huge Norwegian presence*  here in Jerusalem and I was fretting, where would I ever find something Norwegian to photograph in time for May 17?

Then a miracle happened yesterday.
Getting off the tram on Jaffa Street, I suddenly saw a little flag of Norway in an Israeli souvenir shop window!

Here it is, right next to the menorah.

I toured beautiful Norway way back in the 1970s and loved it.
The most exciting thing for me was standing on a living glacier  and rowing a little wooden boat on a real fiord.

For a funny list of "typical" Norwegian characteristics  visit the wonderful blog post written by friend "Spiderdama" in Grimstad, Norway.
She is now joining City Daily Photo.   Welcome, new member!
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*Some 18,000 tourists from Norway visited Israel last year, and 550 Norwegians are registered at their embassy as temporary or permanent residents of Israel.
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Above the city wall

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 The sky was nice and blue yesterday around 4 pm, and the wind brisk. 

The Vatican flag was easy to see, flying atop St. Saviour's (Franciscan)  Monastery in the Christian Quarter of Jerusalem's Old City.

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(A sky for SkyWatch Friday.)

Well polished

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The squeaky clean windows and body of the Mercedes reflect* the Old City buildings in Omar Ibn Al-Khattab Square.
The diplomatic corps car was turning into the narrow Latin Patriarchate Road.
Maybe the Latin [i.e. Roman Catholic] Patriarch was inside (I didn't want to stare).
It's always fun to see the two little Vatican flags on the car.
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For James' Weekend Reflections.
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Flag of Spain and flag of Europe

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Winter clouds for SkyWatch Friday.
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The Consulate General of Spain is in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in east Jerusalem.

It looks less ominous from the other side, in full sunlight.
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Spain and the State of Israel have had diplomatic relations only since 1986.
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The Spanish embassy is in Tel Aviv, like all the embassies, because of the problem nations have in recognizing Jerusalem as our capital.
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"Kreps" with Nutella and sprinkles

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Last night the crêpes stand was one of the most popular food stands at the American Independence Day bash in Jerusalem.
Except its name was transliterated from the Hebrew as KREP.
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The little girl could hardly wait to sprinkle her sprinkles on the Nutella-filled "krep."
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The AACI Association of Americans and Canadians in Israel put on the Fourth of July + Canada Day picnic in Kraft Stadium.
The best part was the big yard sale. Lots of bargains.
No fireworks, thankfully.
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For That's My World meme.
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Rapunzel Rapunzel

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Did you ever see such a long banner?!
It is as long as the Hadassah hospital's Mother and Child Center is tall.
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Today is the day after Independence Day so a guy on the roof was pulling up the equally long Hadassah banner.
A visiting German friend and I watched it go up.
It reminded her of the fairy tale about Rapunzel!
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Foreign flags fly over the French Hospital

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In the previous post we went inside Jerusalem's French Hospital St. Louis.
Today I want to tell you, for ABC Wednesday, that foreign flags fly over the French Hospital!
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There's the flag of the Vatican.
Enlarge the photo if you don't believe me.

See the tricoleur above St. Louis? It was flown for le 14 juillet, France's Bastille Day.
And sometimes (or so the guides like to tell) you can even see our very own Israeli flag up there.

I'm pretty sure that the French Hospital is the only Vatican property in Jerusalem whose food is certified kosher by the rabbinate.
Jews and Muslims as well as Christians are hospitalized in this hostel for chronically- or terminal-ill patients, so the kosher certificate is important.

Six Sisters of Joseph runs the hospital together with 25 foreign volunteers and 60 staff.
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Sr. Hannah, an Israeli Arab, was very kind in guiding our group from Yad Ben-Zvi.
She even let us see the panoramic view from the roof.

Fortunately we hit the roof AFTER 16.00 hours.

In back of the laundry on the roof you can see another Vatican territory, that of the huge Notre Dame de Jerusalem.
(More about that pilgrim house under my label "Notre Dame.")
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Turning to the south you see the New Gate into the Old City.
The photo below is from 2009, when the tracks for the new light rail were still not complete.
This month the trams are making test runs along the tracks. Progress!

UPDATE Feb. 2014: An excellent little video about the hospice just came out.
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Ethiopian Church exterior

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For That's My World and also ABC Wednesday, E is for Ethiopian Church--exterior.
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If you walk down the narrow lane just outside Jerusalem's Old City  to No. 10 Ethiopia Street,

you will find the (Ethiopian Orthodox)  Ethiopian Church.
It was built in stages between 1874 and 1901. 

The Bible says (I Kings 10:1-6) that the Queen of Sheba traveled to Jerusalem  in a great caravan to visit King Solomon.
According to Ethiopian tradition, the Ethiopian royal dynasty began with a union between Solomon and the Queen of Sheba.
Our symbol, the Lion of Judah, also became the emblem of the Ethiopian kingdom, but with the addition of a cross and crown.

When you come to visit, you may have to ask to have the church unlocked.
Here in the picture a nun smiles as the monk removes his shoes and opens the door for us.
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Please come back tomorrow to see the surprising interior.
It is Jerusalem's only circular church sanctuary.
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Jerusalem's September 11 memorial

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I like this Mother and Child Center at Hadassah Medical Center mostly because of the flags.
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We in Israel are especially united in memory with the people of the United States today.
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I urge you to watch a 4-minute video of the dedication of the September 11 memorial sculpture and plaza in the Jerusalem Hills.
Its plaque reads

"A REMINDER OF SHARED LOSS AND A CALL FOR PEACE AMONG NATIONS."
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The names of the 9/11 victims are written there, in the Jerusalem Forest, that we may remember.
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Bastille Day at the French Hospital

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Walking up Sultan Suleiman St. (also now know as Paratroopers Way), I wondered why the hospital was flying a French flag today.
Aha, it must be July 14, Bastille Day, le 14 juillet!
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Normally the French Hospital St. Louis flys the Vatican flag.
The dedicated nun-nurses and volunteers care for terminally ill patients, whether Christian, Muslim, or Jewish.
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But for a funny story about this hospice, see the beginning of an article by Aviva Bar-Am.
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Flags over the houses in Wadi Ara

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We took the bus from Jerusalem up north to Tiberias recently.

These pictures I took from the bus show the long stretches of Arab villages (and one city, Umm al-Fahm) that line both sides of Wadi Ara.

Also known in Hebrew as Nahal Iron, the area is inside the Green Line (the 1949 armistice lines).

Lots of tall mosque minarets.

The houses look big because often several generations of the family will live in one house.

But what I really wanted to show you is that these days many houses are flying the flag of their favorite World Cup team.

Enlarge the photo above and the one below, and see what country's flag you can find.

Yep, Italy seems the most popular!

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Sharing the soccer fever for That's My World Tuesday.

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Painting Jerusalem red for May Day

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"Workers of the world--unite!"

Happy May Day.

This being the Jewish State, Israel had to have the rallies on April 30  because May 1 falls on the Sabbath this year.

This is what I found, quite by accident, at Zion Square yesterday afternoon.

The billboard on the makeshift stage says "WE ARE PAINTING JERUSALEM RED."

From afar I had heard drum rolls, slogan chanting, and cheering  and simply followed my ears.
What a surprise!

The red banner of the Scouts quotes Deuteronomy 16:20:

"JUSTICE, JUSTICE SHALT THOU PURSUE".

The crowd and the drums applauded the speeches. At least one speaker was an Arab Knesset member, probably from the Hadash party.

The signs and speakers and chants all called for equality among the sectors, a two-state solution, an end to privatization, a raise in the minimum wage, equality for women, etc. etc. All the  old Socialist values.

Besides the Scouts I saw other youth movements, like Hashomer Hatzair.

I think the black and red flag belongs to the Anarchists.  And Merez was there, of course.

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You know, I remember when I moved to Israel in 1968 . . . at my Shomer Hatzair kibbutz (where I had 7 months of Hebrew ulpan) and then at the clinics of the Histadrut Kupat Holim, everyone would still address each other as "chaver" or "chavera" which was then the equivalent of the Soviet "tovarish," meaning Comrade.

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