It is Sunday morning. It
has rained during the night. There are clouds hanging over
Jerusalem, and it looks like maybe the drought really is over now.
We are up for a very early breakfast in about 10
minutes. Then we go to Tel Aviv to catch our plane. And then
it's off for home.
All of us want to come back. Sylvia didn't climb
Masada with us. She wants to come back just to do that.
As we leaving Jerusalem it is early morning rush hour
and the streets are clogged.
One of the things that we have been struck with in
this country is the extremes of poverty that many of the people live
in. Particularly the Arabs, and not so much the Jews. This
is the result of the actions of the Palestinians. We have found
that the Arabs are cursing the name of Arafat. They don't like his
policies, because they are harming them. We also see that because
of the recent violence tourism is so far down that the Jews are also,
many of them, having a hard time making a living. They are
desperate for whatever cash they can get. The Arab pickpockets,
according to David, are much bolder now that the poverty is greater.
At the hotel we were thanked profusely for coming to
this country. The hotel manager said that because we are here they
were able to keep the hotel open another week. Of course there
were a couple of other groups, but we could understand, because the
hotel, which can hold thousands, was very nearly empty.
