Jerusalem, Nablus, violence and strawberries

Finally, I am back in Jerusalem, and have been so for a few days. I had a great time in Brazil (check out the photos here) and was lucky enough to be upgraded to business class on the flight from Rio to Madrid (the food was rather bland, but the seat very comfortable and the wine excellent).
Unfortunately, I ran into problems in Madrid. , I was booked on an Iberia-flight from Madrid to Tel Aviv and since I was in transit, I came to the gate well in time (the time recommended on the boarding card).

At the gate I found out that the flight was operated by El Al (the horrible Israeli Airline). There was a long line for an extra security check. I quickly had at least 30 persons waiting behind me in the line as well.

Unfortunately, the security check was made in such an inefficient way, that when I was ready with it, the gate was closed and I missed my flight. I was rebooked on a much later flight, via Barcelona, and arrived 12 hours late. This was my third night of traveling in a row and I was very tired. I also missed a day of work due to this delay. Never ever fly with El Al if you can avoid it!

Back here, my first assignment was to go to Nablus and take photos of a hospital in dire need of renovation. Hopefully, ANERA can refurbish three wards, which would make a big difference for patients and staff at the hospital.
On the way there, I passed blossoming almond orchards and street vendors with mounds of fresh strawberries. Actually, the last few days have been really hot, with temperatures up to 20-23”C in the shade. Yesterday, we had our first glass of wine on the terrace this year. Lovely!

It is hot here in many other, sadder ways. Things are really going the wrong way, with more and more violence, not only in Gaza but also here on the West Bank. Well over a hundred Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli Defence Forces, a large part of them civilians. And yesterday, there was a terror attack at a nationalist Yeshiva (which is a kind of ultra-orthodox Jewish religious school), where a Palestinian killed at least eight persons.
Now, there are even more checkpoints on the road, and the soldiers manning them are even more harsh. A colleague saw a pregnant woman being turned away from a checkpoint this morning after waiting for hours. The soldiers denied her to pass because she sat down to rest next to the queue. These kind of things happens everyday here. Sad indeed.

But now to some good news; Finally, MSN got their act together and published their Swedish travel portal, where I am the resident blogger. I have been contracted to write the blog since mid December, and have done so, but now, the blog is up there for everybody to read. Please have a look, and do not hesitate to mail your travel-oriented questions to me.