Dears,

I haven't written you any report for quite some time... Sorry, but these days have been somewhat depressing. But now wars are temporarily over and even though bomblets are still hurting people, things seem to be bearable. For the moment. So let me show you some pics from (not so distant) past.

Muslim Quarter

The Streets of the Muslim Quarter

Damascus Gate Plaza:
and the Gate:

Right after crossing the gate we enter a big shopping mall,

with people selling their goods on the streets:
and in more typical stores:

However, the Muslim Quarter is more than just a shopping center - it is also a densely populated neighborhood with large families, many of them appear to be very poor.

		Cars and other vehicles in these narrow (and typically very crowded) streets are a kind of not in their place:

The general form and shape of the buildings in all parts of the Old City is essentially the same, however some details and graffiti allow everybody to distinguish them. Also the character of restaurants in the Muslim Quarter is somewhat different than in the other parts, even if we look at what one could call a high end of the Quarter:

I did mention in my previous report that everything in the Old City is a kind of mixed with lots of mutual interaction and influence, people moving sometimes to other parts etc. In the Muslim Quarter we may clearly notice one more side of this mixing: national confrontation of a sort .

There are buildings used and populated by Jews

but I do not think all of them feel safe here

Bethesda and St Anne's church

Some 2800 years ago there was here a water reservoir with an open air tunnel leading water to the Temple. Already in Torah there is something on the topic. Around III century BC a second reservoir was built and the canal leading to the Temple was covered (and it became a water tunnel). Later (between 150 BC and 70 AD) some sort of a spa developed here. John, in the beginning of Chapter V, wrote:

1 After this there was a feast of the Jews; and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
2 Now there is at Jerusalem by the sheep market a pool, which is called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda, having five porches.
3 In these lay a great multitude of impotent folk, of blind, halt, withered, waiting for the moving of the water.
4 For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool, and troubled the water: whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had.
5 And a certain man was there, which had an infirmity thirty and eight years.
6 When Jesus saw him lie, and knew that he had been now a long time in that case, he saith unto him, Wilt thou be made whole?
7 The impotent man answered him, Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool: but while I am coming, another steppeth down before me.
8 Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk.
9 And immediately the man was made whole, and took up his bed, and walked:

Bethesda's cisterns went out of use in I century AD, and between 200 AD and 400 AD several fine buildings were constructed around this place. In the middle of V century a large Byzantine basilica was set here. It was dedicated to St Mary of the Probatic to commemorate both the healing described above and the tradition claiming that Mary was born around this place. The church was destroyed around 1010 AD probably by Caliph Hakim.

After crusaders conquered Jerusalem (1099), they built a small monastery here. Around 1130 AD a large romanesque church was built and dedicated to St Anne.

In 1187 Saladin reconquered Jerusalem and 5 years later turned St Anne's church into a Koranic law school. Later, under Turkish rule, all this region went into neglect. After the Crimean War the ruined church was given to France as a token of appreciation for the help they gave Turkey during the war. The church was restored and archaeological excavations were started in its surroundings.

The plan of the region:		A water cistern (what is left from it):		Mosaic:
And the rest: excavations, ruins, remainders, etc

Inside St Anne's church:
An icon

Temple Mount

One can enter the Temple Mount (provided that there are no Muslim prayers at the time). In the past they even let people to enter mosques located there, as you can see on this board left from the old times: . However, since 2000, kafirs/infidels are not allowed inside any of the structures.

I believe that for Muslims the most important building in this part of the world is Al-Aqsa Mosque:

		Dome of the Rock reflected in the entrance to Al-Aqsa Mosque:

For me however (and for many other tourists) the most fascinating building in the whole city is

Dome of the Rock called also Mosque of Umar:
The entrance, as an infidel I could not any farther:
By the Dome there is a strange and nice structure - I have no idea what is its purpose:

There is lots of structures and buildings in this area, I suppose all of them have some religious functions:

			In the background, Mount of Olives:

Suburban Jerusalem: Mevaseret

On one sunny day (there are no other days here), Lucia (who lives there) organized a small trip to that region.

As most of the new neighborhoods, Mevaseret is

a fine well-kept town
with great views
some art
and the wall separating Jewish population from the Palestinian crowd (under construction)

As you must have guessed, the town was not the goal of that trip, however. Just a couple of yards from the town there are quite wild and natural places. Well, maybe not so much natural , but we cannot expect too much from humans. In a valley just by the city, in the local rocks there are wonderful caves and other holes. Just have a look:

After our visit to the caves, we drove to the other side of the Tel-Aviv - Jerusalem highway. There we visited the Martyrs Forest set by B'nai B'rith . (They planted there 6000000 trees; the number is not accidental.) There are various memorial plates over there , but the most known object is a sculpture Scroll of Fire by Nathan Rapoport (who also is the author of Ghetto Heroes' Memorial in Warsaw).

Anybody asking how I am doing?

The works on 888 advance slowly because that stuff is really very technical and complicated, and we have here high temperatures (90-100F) which do not help me in concentration. But, to be honest, I have to admit that the real reason for slow progress is my new toy: pl.wikipedia. I did write you that Martin convinced me that I should contribute to Wikipedia and that Polish Wikipedia needs special attention. Well, I try sometimes to work on something there... I should mention that on September 26, 2006 Polish Wikipedia celebrated its 5th anniversary and it also reached 300k articles.

So yes, I do contribute there sometimes. But recently I decided to take a small wiki-break, though I am already thinking about the next entry that requires a serious expansion...

I would like to repeat my old call:

I think that we all are using Wikipedia and that for many of us it is the number one source of info. No doubts it is getting better with any moment - continuously something is added, something is corrected. And it makes sense if we all try to help them. We may

• just read and correct small errors/mistakes whenever we see them,
• we may also add new articles or expand the existing ones,
• and/or we may consider a monetary contribution.

PS: The Polish version of this report is available here.

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Last modified: Sat Sep 30 18:01:16 IDT 2006