Archaeologist, beware!

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Now that you are fortified with yesterday's post's pomegranate juice, let us get back to a weightier subject for today's Taphophile Tragics.

"The Kidron Valley is the boundary between the living . . . and the dead . . ."
So begins the City of David's sign perched on the side of the valley.
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Kindly click on the photo to read about Jerusalem's cemetery from 2,000 years ago.

The photo above can be enlarged too, so you can see the ancient inscription found in the burial cave.
The inscription, discovered in 1874, may relate to the Prophet Isaiah's words (22:16).

It says

This is [the grave of ] [... iahu] who is over the house. There is no silver or gold here, but [his bones (i.e. the deceased's)] and the bones of his maid servant with him.
Cursed be the man who will open this.

The City of David interpretation suggests this may refer to the royal overseer at the court of King Hezekiah, Shebna, whom Isaiah castigated for carving himself an opulent tomb in Jerusalem.

In this zoom shot you can make out at least five of these tomb entrances in between the houses in the Arab village of Silwan.
With a click on the photo and then another click, you should see some kids tending their goats.

Just to the left of Silwan begins the huge Mt. of Olives cemetery.
Jews have been, and continue to be, buried there for thousands of years.
The rows of graves stretch from the Kidron all the way up to the top of the mountain.
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(Isaiah, inscription, interpretation, and interment are all "I" words for today's ABC Wednesday meme.)
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Last night's demonstration in Jerusalem

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The young woman with the bullhorn led the slogan-chanting of the demonstrators.
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I came up behind them, as I was just exiting the big Givati Parking Lot Dig where guided tours of the excavation were going on.

I had to cross the street to get to the annual City of David Archaeology conference.
I needed to squeeze between the many Border Police to get this photo.
The policemen outnumbered the demonstrators, it looked like.

The narrow street leads from the Arab Silwan up to the southern wall of the Old City.
To the left is the Dung Gate into the Old City.
The dome you see is El Aksa mosque on the Temple Mount.
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I'll tell you more about the conference itself in the coming posts.

If you want to try to understand the reason for yesterday's demonstration, please see my earlier post http://jerusalemhillsdailyphoto.blogspot.co.il/2010/09/trouble-in-jerusalem.html.
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Trouble in Jerusalem

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Violence erupted yesterday on the eastern side of Jerusalem.

Riots took place in the Palestinian village of Silwan and on and around the Temple Mount.
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The picture above (taken on a quieter day) is from inside Silwan, looking toward the Temple Mount which is just behind the Old City wall.
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Some 40,000 Palestinians live in Silwan, on both sides of the valley.
This photo is taken from the City of David excavations.

Since the 1990s several hundred Jewish settlers have moved in, renovating or building new houses like the ones seen in the pictures above and below.

Over the last four years I have tried to educate myself by taking three tours in Silwan, guided by guides from opposing ends of the political spectrum, from Elad/Ir David to Emek Shaveh to Ir Amim.

The only tour where you actually talk to and listen to the Arab residents of Silwan, in this protest tent, is the one led by the Alternative-Archaeology archaelogists of Emek Shaveh.

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Unfortunately for this blog, but luckily for me, I was not in the fires and the blood of the riots yesterday.

I can only direct you to media reports with slideshows that you can click through:

Haaretz

Jerusalem Post

Ynet Yediot Aharonot
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A sukkah with a view

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October, but it still feels and looks like summer. SkyWatch Friday visitors have been seeing blue skies at Jerusalem Hills Daily Photo for half a year now. Ho hum . . .
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Israel did do one autumn-like thing however, and that was to end Daylight Saving Time two weeks ago already. Night comes so soon now.
The photo shows the 5:30 pm sky, looking east.

(Click to enlarge--the photo may remind you of a Christmas card.)

Last evening I was invited to a big sukkah and to get there I ventured into Abu Tor for the first time.

Now officially known in Hebrew as Givat Hananya, Abu Tor is a neighborhood on the seam.

The 1948-1967 cease-fire line bisected it.

Abu Tor continues to be a mixed neighborhood. Arabs live on the slope and Jews (as well as many international Christians) live on the top.

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The photo looks toward the (mostly) Arab (but increasingly Jewish) village of Silwan/Siloam/Kfar HaShiloach.

On the horizon is the Mount of Olives.

The other spectacular views from Abu Tor were Mount Zion and the illuminated YMCA and King David Hotel.

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The road below runs through Gai Ben Hinnom, which is Hebrew for the Valley of Hinnom's Son. Gai Hinnom came into other languages as Gehinom or Gehenna and over the years became associated with hell or purgatory.

I didn't go there last night.

Maybe one bright day I will.

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Birds watching

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Only the birds are alert in the noon heat and haze of a summer day in Jerusalem.
These three birds are looking north from the Promenade.
The Arab village of Silwan, then the walled Old City with its golden Dome of the Rock Muslim shrine, and on the horizon the Mount of Olives.
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Other bloggers' animals are being posted today over at Camera Critters Sunday.

S scenes from Jerusalem

Silwan Arab village, site of Shiloach or Siloam Spring.
Stranger with shofar at the Jerusalem Hug event.
Security for the warm-up to the "Hug the walls of Jerusalem" event.
Section of the "separation barrier"--a sorry situation.