Leon's Jerusalem No News Bulletin.(3)

Tues 14th Feb 06

Dear friends and family,

What a great day it was yesterday in Jerusalem. It's the best turn out I've had in ages for my "Jerusalem Walks", 6 people. I can't explain the sudden rush of tourism, but according to my calculations that's a

600 % increase over the two weeks previous to that.

I haven't done anything different. It just goes to show how much our success or failure in life isn't the result of something we've done but the result of events and situations completely out of our control.

For example the increase in tourism is almost certainly due to the airlines offering a special package deal to Israel. Well I hope the airlines are going to carry on that work and give more bargain flight deals to travel to Israel.

It's not only that I like to have many people on my tours, I'm happy even if one person turns up and gets a private tour for $15. I'm happy for the opportunity people get to visit this wonderful country.

It's not only a beautiful, historic and dynamic country, it's also a good country. In the moral sense Israel is a good country. That's one of the reasons why I like to live here.

Take for example the recent desecration of the honor of the Prophet Muhammed. Israel is the only country I know that has a law against insulting religious beliefs of anybody.

About two years ago you might have heard of an art student, Tatiana Soskind, who was sentenced to two years imprisonment for making a mockery of the Prophet in an art project. This is as it should be. I have lots of criticism of Islam, but mockery doesn't have a place in constructive criticism.

The law, however, is the same for the Moslems and any other citizen of Israel. That means it's the function of the State to punish criminals it's not the function of the individual. This makes the Arab attacks on Danes and others who they feel have mocked the Prophet, completely illegal and they are liable for punishment just as Miss Soskin was liable for punishment.

Now someone else has done this in Hebron and the police are looking for the individual. They of course are also arresting many Arabs who attack travellers, mostly Jewish, on a road near Hebron, in reprisal for the mockery. So the police have a double job and the jails are just going to be more crowded.

Just imagine what good conditions criminals could have in prisons if there were less of them. Just goes to show that criminals are also very inconsiderate of their own sort.

At the Tel Hashomer hospital, Sunday, a little baby girl, only a few hours old struggled for her life. The struggle for life failed but this little child showed us how strong is the struggle for life. Her struggle lasted about 5 hours, but she was only about 2 hours old when she started the struggle. Her struggle began after her mother gave birth to her and left her outside an appartment block, completely naked, in the cold Winter morning. One of the neighbors heard a faint noise and found the baby.

This highlights the tremedous need to encourage people to talk about their problems and to find help in their moment of need. The taboos and unnacceptance of unmarried mothers or mothers out of wedlock have no place in our modern society.

A woman who becomes a mother should be raised on a pedestal as a heroine of society not be thrown in the dung heap as a disgrace of society.

We're very good at composing songs about motherhood but what do we really do to make woman feel good and honourable because they are all potential mothers. It's about time we start showing women some respect.

Throwing people away and throwing trash away is all part of the mistakes we have in our modern society. We throw the stuff away and then think what to do with it. It's about time we stopped making the trash in first place then we wouldn't have to throw it away and we wouldn't have to figure out ecologically disastrous ways of getting rid of it.

Should we burn it or recycle it into fuel or erichments for soil in the desert. I'm fascinated by the fuel and agricultural material that is created from trash. I visited the plant in Beersheba, capitol of the Negen desert, and saw the process of recycling, it's great. It's a lot of work and stinks to high heaven but it's all worth it.

Even if figures can show that burning trash is more economical the moral inspiration that people get from doing something useful makes recycling worth it.

Here's wishing you a great no news day. Leon.

Reply to: legork@netvision.net.il

Leon Gork. Israeli Tour Guide.

PO BOX 49091

Jerusalem 91491

Israel.

Tel/fax 02 5810732

Mobile phone 052 3801867

http://www.geocities.com/leongork

http://jerusalemwalks.tripod.com