I found it fascinating to watch the zealots following the rules.
This human need to believe in gods goes way back into our primitive past. The tribal elements are manifest. We commit so much of our time, wealth and emotional state into these religious systems.
Just think if all that time, energy and money had been directed to say – removing poverty or green issues.
I saw lots of fervent belief or display. I didn’t see god anywhere.
2h · Deliberately provocative attacks on the Al-Aqsa mosque and the ongoing home invasions in #SheikhJarrah and other neighbourhoods have led to horrendous violence and loss of life in Jerusalem and most recently Gaza where 25 people including children are reported dead following an Israeli Defence Force Operation codenamed ‘Guardian of the Walls.’ This is a deeply worrying sign of the decision to use air strikes to respond to rockets from the Palestinian side. I am profoundly saddened by the reports of deaths and injuries on both sides. I call on the Israeli government to stop land expropriations and settler expansion. I also call on those responsible for the missile attacks to stop. A cessation of both, crucially, will save lives and should enable negotiations in good faith to begin. As the occupying power, the Israeli government has it in its gift to rectify the current situation and not exacerbate it.
We arrived in Haifa at dawn to discover a port that was not exactly the world’s most picturesque.
Israel intrigued me. I am not a religious man. Indeed, I think religion is the cause of many of our problems. But I was aware of the history and could see that Jerusalem was the focus of centuries of conflict between the three Abrahamic religions. It had fought to an uneasy truce. Jerusalem was the powder keg for the whole Middle East. It could go off at any moment. The Palestinian/Jewish situation looked like it would never be resolved.
For the West this presented a great opportunity to benefit from the unrest. The whole Arab world was in conflict.
It was easy to see how this constant state of animosity and fear pushed people to more extreme positions and beliefs.
I was eager to have a look. A lot of history was bound up in this small area.
Boarding a coach we set off for Jerusalem and received our first glimpses of Israel through the window.
We arrived at the walled city and entered in.
We caught our first glimpse of orthodox Jews. We were going to see a lot more religious extremists in the course of the day.
We arrived at the Abbey of the Dormition.
The garden of Gethsemane was not exactly a huge place. But it had some great old olive trees. I found it interesting to think back to the historical times 2000 years ago when it was probably bigger and Jesus and his followers were hanging out there. What started as a fringe sect of no real import was then made into something else. I bet Jesus would be amazed if he came back. I wonder how much of what he was preaching ended up in the bible and how much was totally misrepresented?
