It's been a while, I know

Things have been hectic, and are going to be that way for a while. But I've got some pictures of a small settlement overlooking Nahal Kana, a dry river about 20 km west of Tel Aviv. Enjoy!

Hilltop playground

A DIY balcony

Old guard tower flying the Israeli flag

Ilan the carpenter. You can see his hillside garden on the right.

Wadi Kana. The olive trees belong to the Arab neighbors-even though it's a nature preserve, some animals are more equal than others. Some of the residents of Elmatan have started a reforestation project to re-seed the hillsides with almond (for shade, biomass and rock breakup) and carob (for nitrogen fixation) trees. We'll see how it goes.

Nati and his wife Roni, making a chair together

Short Hike From Mevaseret Zion Through The Judean Mountains

These pictures are from the Jerusalem-Tel Aviv corridor. It was the site of many battles during the 1948 war, as the Israelis fought to keep the Arabs from cutting off communications to Jerusalem, which was under siege and whose residents almost starved. There are a lot of  very interesting and inspiring stories, including the Burma Road, a bypass built in record time to keep supply convoys to Jerusalem running as they were being ambushed on the main road. Anyway, I hiked south of Highway 1, which links Jerusalem to Tel Aviv. After the war, the corridor, which is very mountainous, was planted with trees by the Jews. In the pictures from 1948, you can see barren hillsides covered with garrengue, the landscape you get after you chop down all the trees for wood and then herd goats and sheep over the land to such a degree that only spiny, thorny bushes can survive. Today, there are huge trees everywhere, pines, figs, even palms. It looks a bit like the low mountains of Bosnia or the Appalachians.

Olive grove

Jerusalem from the West

Hadassa Hospital and a church to the left

Judean Mountains

New pictures soon

I've been busy with school, no time for hiking, but will get some stuff up in the next couple of weeks. In the meantime, next door it's Aliens vs. Predator: no matter who loses, we all win.

http://www.islamicinvitationturkey.com/2014/03/07/tv-confessions-saudis-killing-fellow-saudis-in-syria/

Around Bat Ayin

I hiked the hills below Bat Ayin. There are several streams coming out of the mountain and running in parallel down draws. First, a little more Bat Ayin Bet:

Bat Ayin Aleph and Bet

The poppies are blooming on the mountains

Bat Ayin is a settlement in the Judean mountains 30 minutes south of Jerusalem at an elevation of about 700 meters. They are a bit hippyish, in a very right-wing Jewish way. They try to use Jewish labor exclusively (most settlements are built and maintained with Arab labor.) They've had a lot of trouble with harassment from the Shin Bet's Jewish section (the Yevsekciya, if that tells my readers anything) and the government in general. In a move close to my heart, they don't have a fence, on the proper understanding that putting yourself into a ghetto is not a wise or dignified move.

Bat Ayin started off on top of the mountain and grew downwards. The houses up top, in Bat Ayin Aleph, are more established and built up. As you move downhill, to Bat Ayin Bet, it looks a bit more like a trailer park-people build their home the best they can, then make improvements as their financial situation becomes more established. There is no code, so even the established houses look very individual. Everyone has lots of kids, and dogs run free.

Bat Ayin Aleph

Kiryat Arba and Hevron

Near the top of Kiryat Arba, looking north towards the neighborhood of Har Sina (the hilltop directly above the kids.)

The red roofed houses in the center are the neighborhood of Ashmoret Yitzhak. The white houses overlooking them are the Arab neighborhoods of Hevron. According to my friends who have lived in Hevron since the early 90's, at that time all this was bare hillside. The Arab custom is that when a son gets married, his wife goes to live with him in his family's house. His family just adds an extra floor to the house. So you have organic growth of buildings to four, five stories over the decades.

Collapsing Birthrates

Spandrell is wondering why middle and upper class people in civilized countries are refusing to breed.

I mentioned that the Torah Jews are an exception to this rule. The ensuing discussion got long-winded, and I didn't want to monopolize comments. Below are my thoughts.