The siren is now sounding across the city to announce the start of shabat – the sabbath day, when Jewish Jerusalem comes to a halt and Muslim Jerusalem continues regardless. On our way back to the hotel we were amazed to see a market had sprung up along the streets round the Damascus Gate. Mohammed explained that municipal inspectors don’t work on Friday afternoons, so traders take to the streets. The overflowing fruit and veg stalls were full of bargains – Israeli wholesalers wouldn’t be able to shift stocks until Monday, so the canny Palestinians scooped up the surplus and sold it in these impromptu markets.

We had spent the day weaving in and out of the various quarters of the Old City. It’s staggering to see so much history heaped up (literally) within a square kilometre or so, with each new era building on top of the last. I also can’t think of another city that has ended uo with so many foreign countries owning slices of real estate within its city walls. The most depressing sight was the recent Israeli settlers who have managed to stake a claim to property within the Muslim quarter and flaunt their presence with large Israeli flags and ugly security measures.

The Old City is a complete warren of ancient streets and buildings. Mohammed grew up within its walls and was a faultless guide to the area and a fount of knowledge on its history, both ancient and modern. As we did the rounds of the sights from the Via Dolorosa to the Wailing Wall, we learned a lot about the troubles of the city past and present. Having been brought upon Bible stories and then the Holocaust, it’s hard not to have sympathy for Jews wanting to make a home in Israel. However, once in Israel, they do seem to be doing their best to exhaust that stock of western goodwill by their treatment of their Palestinian neighbours.

Much to talk about over dinner tonight.

It’s warm enough to wander round to Damascus Gate in shirt sleeves for a cheap shwarma (kebab) and fruit from the market then back to the hotel for a quick blog and early night – breakfast at 7am tomorrow.

For this reason, over the past years I have got into the habit of wearing a white ‘peace poppy’ rather than the more conventional red poppy. I believe the only way to acknowledge the full horror of war is to remember all victims of war equally, civilian as well as military, and wearing a peace poppy is for me the best way to do this. I have no ‘problem’ with red poppies – e.g. if I attend a ceremony at a war memorial specifically to remember military fatalities, I will wear a red poppy. But an authentic Remembrance Day must be for remembering everyone – members of the armed forces killed in combat certainly, but also civilians mowed down in snowy forests in the middle of the night, or incinerated in a nuclear blast, or gassed in the death chambers, or blown up by a suicide bomber in a crowded marketplace…

At the going down of the sun and in the morning, we must remember them all.

Peace poppies can usually be bought from your local Justice and Peace Group

I don’t do recipes as a rule , but Mel brought a tub of Brose along to a party this afternoon and was asked for the recipe, so here it is.

Brose

1 oz medium oatmeal
4 oz syrup
1 tbsp lemon juice
½ pt double cream
5 tbsp whisky

1. Toast oatmeal under grill until brown
2. Whip cream until stiff
3. Mix syrup, whisky, lemon juice
4. Fold into cream with most of oatmeal
5. Chill
6. Sprinkle with remaining oatmeal

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Reference No: ESP-X/M-2810
Batch No: 2009/101/MIC

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