Letter from Jerusalem... Friday

August 10, 2001

What impresses me is the resilience of this city. Remember the

Ealing car bomb, the Staples Corner bomb... the roads were closed for

days, weeks even months afterwards and the area became a ghost town;

no one daring to venture near. In Jerusalem, a suicide bomber blows

himself and 15 others up in a central Pizza parlour, and within

*three hours* the roads are open again, and the people are back.

People are used to death here; they can't let it run their lives or

interrupt their schedules. Part of it is the Israeli arrogance and

stubborness and refusal to be browbeaten by anything or anyone; and

part of it is pure survival. Life has to go on, even in the face of

death.

I drove past the bomb site this morning and the streets were as busy

and as crowded as if nothing had happened here yesterday. The only

signs of the tragedy were the boarded up windows, and some extra

police...

There were no rubberneckers or ghoulish tourists (except me, on my

way to a T shirt shop further down.)

I saw some reinforced buses with metal grids covering the windscreens

but that, apparently, is normal here.

Bought lots of great T shirts in my size with 3/4 length sleeves,

also some more of those elusive T shirt dresses, so wonderful for a

coverup over a swimsuit.

And here's a pic of Rafi, taken yesterday in my Jerusalem kitchen.

Yes, Tavya and Dov are here with us and brought me the USB connector

for my digital camera!

Ruthie

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