Category Israel & biblical history

Jun 17 2010

Bridgend > Heathrow > Budapest > Tel Aviv > Jerusalem = one heck of a long day….

Due to some major problems with my flight, I was now going back to Israel via Budapest.  Sometimes this can take some thinking, lots of Eastern European capitals start with B for some reason.  Budapest, Bucharest, Bratislava, Belgrade, etc.  But I have not been to Hungary, I did IT support some software engineers who worked for Ericsson in Hungary last year though.  Unusually enough some friends from Finland tell me there language (which is nothing like Danish, Norwegian or Swedish) is closer to Hungarian than anything else.  I also have an Aunt who is a Hungarian Jew who is a holocaust survivor.

The flight was with Malev, Hungary’s national airline, although the first part of the journey was from Heathrow to Budapest with British Airways, its nice not to being flying with a budget airline and get the perks like a decent sandwich and drinks on this fairly short flight.

If you are hungry in Hungary, I got this unusual pancake (ham, egg and lots mustard) from the cafe in the airport which with a coffee cost me 7 Euros, a lot but I didn’t get any Hungarian (no I can’t remember what their currency was without looking on the web 🙂 ) money out, as this was a last minute trip.  This stop over was about 6 hours, I did get a chance to leave the airport, and just saw a car park and a half finished building site, as I didn’t know how far away the city centre was, I decided just to stay put and sleep.   At least unlike the cruel designers of UK airports who make the seats so you can’t lie down on them, here in Budapest there are no rests on the seats so sleeping is quite comfortable.   There were of course people crowded round a TV watching the world cup also.  Outside it seems that gone are the days of old eastern bloc vehicles I saw when I went to Poland years ago, the Hungarians drive modern Skodas, Renaults, Opels and Mercedes.

Lastly, I maybe did get one glimpse of a nice part of Budapest, from the window of the plane.  I am pretty sure that this is the river Danube. 🙂

The last part of the trip back was fairly uneventful, but touching down in Tel Aviv was nearly 4am, and once on a Sherut I headed back in my flat in Jerusalem at 6am, meant I had been travelling about for close to 24 hours.

Jun 16 2010

my East Talpiyot neighbours

My neighbours are nice, I don’t seem them that often, apart from the odd shalom to the Ethiopian family in our block, some people say Israelis are hard to get to know initially which maybe true to some degree, but in the flat that I live in East Talpiyot, I burnt some toast, and someone knocked on the door asking if I was ok and to make sure I had not set the place on fire, I have had people twice knock on the door asking to borrow a bottle opener (sadly I didn’t have one)   and someone else below me pointed out when I had a leaking tap on the balcony gushing out over the side of the block, but today I had someone else knock on the door to say she was watering her plants and some of the dirty water had gone into my balcony, and she wanted to say sorry and clean it up.  I told her thanks but it wasn’t necessary, but was quite touched but how thoughtful this was.

Across the car park from my block is a large house owned by an Arab family, I don’t know them so well, apart from see the kids out playing at the front, but I have seen a very large tame rabbit jump out in front of me on my bike as well as their large garden at the back and have three sheep I can often hearing baaing and a few chickens, the sheep seem to be a recent purchase though.  I guess Arab people may chose to buy sheep ready for Eid, the Islamic festival in November.  Either way, with 100 yards down the road is across the 1949 Armistice line, as the Palestinian territories I sometimes go to a shop to get supplies as they are open most of the time.   I think its great that many Arab families with largish amounts of land around their house aim to be self sufficient and keep their own animals.

Jun 4 2010

June Gaza Flotilla incident and being a volunteer in a unpopular place

I know Christians working in numerous troubled parts of the world all over.  Pakistan, South Africa, Chile, Ukraine and many more.  Western nations as well.   For me, being in Israel has to be one of the most difficult, not so much just in the context of my actual role and living there, but more in case of being an ambassador and explaining to people in my home country both Christians and non-Christians alike why I am volunteering there.

“Christians supporting Israel? Oh so you are Zionist are you?”  is sometimes reactions I get.   This week has been particularly difficult as I try and explain to some people what I believe why the IDF had to board the ships by ‘freedom fighters’ trying to enter Gaza.

In a usual predictable fashion, there is worldwide condemnation of Israel being an aggressor on civilians yet again.   But hold on are these people really people providing humanitarian aid and support to the Palestinians?  Look on Youtube and you can see videos released by the IDF about these people came armed, ok mostly with relatively crude weapons, kitchen knives, iron bars and such, but still able to kill.   Fine if you wish to make a legitimate statement they could of just held up banners and could arrange a third party from the UN to arbitrate sending goods and assistance from their boat to the people in Gaza, instead they were there motives are not so well intentioned.  Even more so, one of the pro-Palestinian activists (I think from the UK or Europe) brought an 18 month old child, why?  Sounds familiar like Hamas terrorists deliberately attack Israel from amongst buildings knowingly containing women and children.  To the folks from Europe, just like some anarchic animal rights protest group, it probably seems jolly exciting to join a band of mercenaries against what they have read as an oppressive authority, and join a cause.  Its now been found that the supposed Turkish freedom fighters have links to Al Queda.

As I said earlier, I am not really a political sort of person.  In the UK I have voted on all three parties at different years, sometimes though when injustice and lies come from our familiar media channels you need to speak out, and when you are a Christian supporting Israel, your views are not always very popular.  All boycotts are a stupid and pointless thing and don’t achieve anything productive.  Instead we need pray and show love to people in all places of conflict.   Israel may get financial support from the US, but for me as a volunteer, the kind donations I have been given by people this year can be counted on one hand.   I am in great need of sponsorship and through asking through various channels, finding a regular sponsor has turned up very little so far.

My role as an IT administrator in the charity in Jerusalem means I have a relatively hidden backroom job but very necessary role of keeping a charity infrastructure running.  As usual with my blog I don’t like talking about politics and arguing, so I will get back to just more biblical places I have visited and seeing people in need lifted up and encouraged by the different Christian organisations I know of here.

Jun 1 2010

Dead Sea Odyssey 422 metres below sea level – 1: The snake trail at Massada

( 1 ) – ( 2 ) – ( 3 ) – ( 4 ) – more soon….

My friend Magnus from Sweden who I work with and Marcel from the Netherlands who works for another Christian organisation in Jerusalem decided to spend a weekend on a trip, as Magnus was close to the end of his volunteer time in Israel.

Various different ideas were discussed on a biblical place to go, maybe Jericho (although didn’t manage to fully research safety and security in this place) or more of the Galilee. In the end we decided to check out the Dead Sea. I have been there twice before but not recently, but where as before I went up in a cable car, this time this would be a gruelling climb up the ‘snake trail’ at 3am, a zigzag path that goes right up to the top of the Masada fortress where a Jewish community once lived before tragically committing suicide after being hopelessly surrounded by the Roman army.  More information on Masada here.

After the shock of getting up at 3am to get there to see the sun rise and not have the intense midday heat when hiking up the path, this was definitely worth it I think 🙂

( 1 ) – ( 2 ) – ( 3 ) – ( 4 ) – more soon….

Jun 1 2010

few weeks break to Spain and the UK

Apologies this blog has been quiet. I took a leave from Jerusalem for a short while for several reasons, I needed to visit to Gijon in northern Spain to see my good friend Ian get married, also then fly back home to the UK to see my sister and family who is expecting a baby this week, I also need to work on an email migration project for the UK office of the charity I volunteer for.

More soon….

May 17 2010

12th of May is Jerusalem day!

Got to finish work early today, although the parades of anniversary of the reunification of Jerusalem from 1967 start at 5pm, we were told we could leave at 3pm because buses would either cease running or traffic would just make things impossible to get home.

I stayed a little late as needed to clarify what some issues were with networks with our other office in Karmiel which is 3 hours drive away, so decided these problems couldn’t be fixed with remote software and am arranging to get a lift up there with a colleague who leads our home repair team tomorrow (thursday)

After a quick visit to the market and then read sit in a coffee shop for 45 minutes or so reading my National Geographic magazine that arrived a couple of days ago, I got to just relax for a while then head off on the bike to see what celebratory activities would be happening.

When I got to King George Street there are thousands of people everywhere and the police have cordoned off the roads to let people gather all over the main roads of the city centre.  I stuck around for 10 minutes and didn’t see much apart from people with flags and banners so I decided to head off home and get some dinner.

Here as you can see the Magon David ambulance service are here ready in case of any urgent need.   This organisation always has the sponsors written on the vehicle, most of them time its from a Jewish philanthropic group in the US, sometimes Canada, but sometimes they are paid for by French or British Jewish people.   I am not sure if its because the government cannot stretch to pay for this kind of essential service, I think its more to do there is always a regular source of funds available from generous Jews in the diaspora wanting to provide medical help in times of need.

Its funny that these ambulances are always American vehicles, this one being a GM Savanna or they may be Ford F150s, which in this particular van has a 6 litre engine, which does seem enormous compared to European or Japanese made commercial vehicles, as you often see regular 2.5L diesel British made Ford Transit vans for regular businesses used in Israel.   I have an Arab friend who is training to work for Magon David at the moment.  It would be interesting to know if wealthy Arabs in places like Saudi, Qatar or Kuwait fund ambulances in Palestinian towns like Ramallah, Nabulus or Hebron.

May 16 2010

furry (and sometimes spikey) neighbours

Found these pictures from last year.

Was walking home to my old flat from a friend’s house after a party, down this narrow alleyway, when I saw something move from a distance which I thought was a rat.

When I got a bit closer, I was pleased to see it wasn’t.   I was quite amazed how tame it was, must of been a baby hedgehog, it eventually moved into bushes, I had to say ‘sech’a’ (excuse me) to a man walking the opposite direction then ask him in English to be careful not to tread on him. 🙂


May 14 2010

Quick visit to Karmiel

On Wednesday afternoon I was asked to do an emergency trip to Karmiel to look at some IT problems at our food bank there.

This extra food bank warehouse is much larger than the one in Talpiyot but has only about 6 staff there.  This building operates to help Israelis from Russia or from other ex-Soviet Union countries.   As it is only about 15Km from the border with Lebanon, this area suffered much during the 2006 Lebanon war.   The food bank also sometimes supplies new immigrants with new blankets, sheets, pots, pans and kitchen things who have recently come into the country with very little.

I can normally do changes to the computers in this location using remote software (VNC or remote desktop)  but a visit in person was needed to check out problems and give users some reassurance and assess PCs for any possible future problems.   Some printer issues I quickly sorted out, some wireless routers were set up, I didn’t know we had these are they didn’t show up on my Spiceworks network management software.   These seemed all working but no-one know the wireless keys to access them as it doesn’t appear they have been used, so I had to reset them and ensure they were set up correctly so visiting senior members of staff can get on line when visiting.   The rest of the day I was working on making sure users have a secure reliable browser for internet use (getting rid of Internet Explorer 6 and move to Firefox)   and testing UPS systems (box with car batteries to keep essential equipment safe from power failures)   I had enough to keep me busy for the day, but nothing really too much to worry about.

As the drive in a colleague’s car was about 3 hours from Jerusalem, I decided against trying to get home that day by bus and stay with one of the Karmiel team at his flat about 20 minutes walk away.  The three of us got a couple of pizzas and had a few glasses of Russian beer which was in the shape of hand grenade!   I was quite amazed how my American friend speaks Russian to visitors to the office there with such ease, he has a real gift for dealing with Russian, Ukrainian and other Israelis originating from former USSR states.

This is the food bank in an industrial estate in between factory units that had a strong smell of cellulose paint at one side, and oily smell from several car garages at the other.  Sorry these are grainy phone pics, I brought my camera but left the battery in the charger in my house (bah..)

Although I only got a picture of the petrol station I went for my lunch, the town itself is beautiful.  Its only officially existed since 1964, there are nice neat gardens everywhere, with flower beds in roundabouts and by the sides of busy roads, and although some of the concrete blocks look a bit shabby, several of them have been nicely painted up recently.

View out of the window of the flat.   Looking at each side of the house, every direction reveals several mountains in each direction, its no wonder on the way home, I was not able to find a radio channel in the car that worked!   There are also some Arab towns on the outside of the town.

I definitely need to come back and have a closer look around, this place is a good base point for me (there is an empty apartment I could book out to stay there) to visit northern Israel in more depth.

May 10 2010

The Sanhedrin Tombs, burning garbage, wild birds

On Sunday before church I was taking a ride around the city in the afternoon close to Meir Shareem.

The Haredi community (Ultra Orthodox people) which live in this part of town seem to have got upset about something (usually that government had said or done)  had decided to burn some rubbish bins, hence the horrible smelling melted green plastic still burning in the road.  I didn’t see any people that looked like they were angry or holding cans of petrol or whatever as it seems they had already fled.   Seeing as I blogged before about Arab community burning bins, maybe setting fire to garbage is becoming a national sport or something?


Anyway, I got sight of this sign post, and decided to investigate.

Various sources I have read up on the Sanhedrin Tombs says the bones of who was buried there were taken away years ago.  More articles here.

Sadly there is a fair bit of discarded garbage in the park, its a nice place to take a shade from the hot midday heat though.

As you can see the caves are partially fenced off (except one) to stop being putting rubbish in them or using them as a toilet.

The park amongst the tombs, had some Orthodox families walking through  enjoying the escape from the frantic pace of the city, but also I got a glimpse of some nice birds in the trees.

A Woodpecker and a Blue Jay (looks like baby, they are normally a bit bigger than this)  I have seen both these birds sometimes my work’s headquarters in the garden, but its a pleasure to see them anywhere.

May 10 2010

Brief visit to the temple mount

Several times I was curious about visiting the Temple Mount, the hotly disputed centre of the old city, where the dome of the rock is, an important worship place for Muslims, the times of opening to non-Muslims is a bit confusing and there is only one entrance in, up the wooden bridges that ascends next to the Kotel (Western Wall)  so every time I have visited the entrance is shut.

Although I say this, according to Islamic theology, neither Jerusalem or its Arabic name Al-Quds feature in the Quran, unlike Mecca of course in Saudi Arabia where Muslims aim to make a pilgrimage at least once in their lifetime.   Nevertheless the Dome of the Rock with its gold roof stands as a centre piece in Jerusalem.  Of course this area is considered to be the place where the third Jewish temple will be built and often there are riots up here as Muslims react angrily if they here any rumours that Israel may be hinting at attempting to rebuild a temple there, I have an Arab friend who works an ambulance worker who often gets called there.  Such is the extremely politically volatile climate this area is in.

Looking down from the wooden bridge you can get some nice shots of the Kotel through the wooden slats of the bridge.  On the other side are these interesting ruins I have not spotted before.


Here this rusty sign above the doorway at the entrance to the Temple Mount shows that this not-accessible, (I am pretty sure Israelis are not allowed in, its only intended for Muslims and visiting foreigners)  I am not sure which age or era this sign is from.

Once in, the Temple Mount is quite different, where as everything is tightly squeezed in the walls of the old city into the four quarters (Christian, Jewish, Islamic and Armenian sections) and I would imagine property prices are high, here in the courtyard of this place there is a lot of big open space, and some nice trees and the walls, stairways and buildings are of interesting architecture, with the familiar green doors I see associated with Islamic buildings.

The main mosque has some cracks in the walls apparently, mainly due some unannounced extensions underground built by the Arab authorities, there is talk that some structural repairs are needed (the ancient walls around the old city have had a lot of maintenance needed lately)   but as Muslims are not keen on having Israeli structural engineers in their famous mosque, I am not sure of any remedial work has been done.   So given a busy day with a lot of people visiting the mosque, this could give great cause for concern for safety.

I wanted to get some shots of one of the insides of the buildings, I had to make do with this one as I was gestured by one of the staff not to take pictures, or it might of been in accordance with Islamic culture I should take my shoes off.  Anyway I decided to settle on just a wander around the inside perimeter walls of the Temple Mount, after getting around just two sides of the wall.

After passing one of the exits, I was told by a member of security I had to leave as time was up for visitors at 3.30pm, I was kind of disappointed as I want to good chance to leisurely explore this place which I have not seen previously.

As a Christian I believe some day Yeshua (Jesus) will return here and the temple will be rebuilt, and as the Dome sits as a centre point in the city, the architecture of this new place will be pretty spectacular as the bible says when Jerusalem becomes a completely free from war and conflict.