Jerusalem - Day 2

[Entering the Old City markets via the Damascus Gate]

[Mountains of spices in the Old City markets]

[Al Aqsa, the third holiest mosque for Muslims, is the gold-domed building on the right. Behind it is the mountain top where some Jews believe the true believers will ascend to heaven]

[An intersection near the Church of the Holy Sepulchre]

[Ubiquitous Israeli soldiers... and tourists in the Arab quarter of the Old City]

['Sharon House' - a settlement set up by Ariel Sharon on land confiscated from Palestinians in the Old City]

[Selling shoes outside the Damascus Gate, Jerusalem Old City]

Today, my first full day here, was spent roaming through the old city of Jerusalem. I bought some ‘Indian spices’ with which to cook a curry for my very generous hosts. Last night I walked around a fancy neighbourhood and saw one of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s mansions. The place was eerily vacant! Apparently he's in a bit of hot water trying to explain how he can afford such an expensive residence. Perhaps he's vacated it until a parliamentary investigation is completed. Here and there you could see the fading markers of previous Arab occupants. A typical indicator was a bit of Arabic etched into the stone doorway at the entrance to a house.

Because it’s Passover in Israel all government offices and many businesses are closed for the next seven days. The real action, then, will commence the week after that. But the hiatus gives me an ample opportunity to line up some interviews and tours of cities in the West Bank. I’m also going to visit the Australian Embassy to discuss ‘coordination’ of entry into the Gaza Strip with the Israeli military. You need to get permission from the Army to enter or leave Gaza. The civilian folk have nothing to do with it. Foreign nationals are usually coordinated via their country’s diplomats.

Next stop, Nazareth.