Pictures of Abu Dis 2

This is the main street of Abu Dis by night. The road you can see goes up the hill towards the next village of Al Eizaria and on towards Jerusalem. At night the streets are crowded with teenagers hanging out and quite young children until late. The temperature at the moment is baking in the day and also hot at night. There is no rain. The rainy months are December, January and a bit in February. Only, Khaled who goes to the community centre to study extra mathematics, told me that it hasn't rained much this year. He thinks it's global warming. 'Every year it gets a bit hotter and rains a bit less'. Global warming will either create hardships - water shortages for example - that will drive both sides together or will be the grounds for new conflicts.

One of the things that is most remarkable about this town is how safe it is and how little crime there is. I can wander back to my flat down an empty side-street at eleven or twelve at night and feel in no danger at all. That would be impossible where I live in Stepney London, and in most western cities. It is to do with the fact that everybody knows everybody else here, it really is like a village, and if someone starts breaking the law, their family would soon hear about it. Sarah says that as a western woman, she gets a bit of wolf-whistling from cars, but she still feels pretty safe. I tell my friends how safe it is here, and they say, 'Yes, but we've got the soldiers'. I still haven't been caught up in a military search yet.