In Kfar Adumim

Over the last few weeks, top secret talks between the Israeli and Palestinian negotiating teams on an Israeli surrender of territory have continued apace. Of course, the term "top secret" is a bit disingenuous, as the talks aren't so secret that they haven't been reported in every Israeli newspaper along every step of the way.

Yesterday I happened to be walking through some of the land that the beliefless wheeler-dealer Israeli ruling elites are so eager to dispose of. I was in the Adumim settlement block, east of Jerusalem. On the ridgeline above the Prat river stand Anatot, Kfar Adumim, and Allon.


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Looking towards Anatot, the birth village of Jeremiah the Prophet, reestablished as a Jewish settlement in the 1980s.

Foreground: Kfar Adumim (Red Village.) In the background is the Mishor Adumim industrial area.
The hilltops of Kfar Adumim.
The grassy slopes. The grass can only grow on the northern sides of the slopes since the sun scorches away the grass on the southern side. Soon this will all be brown again, and the brief spring will be gone.
The hilltops of Maaleh Adumim in better light.

A soldier bored stiff on guard duty. In the background is the Allon Road.
Looking east. In the foreground is the settlement of Allon (like the Allon road, named for General Yigal Allon.)
The hilltops of Kfar Adumim again, now in better light. You can stee the stormclouds dumping rain on Jerusalem in the background.
Looking towards Nachal Prat (the Prat river.) This river marked the boundary between the tribes of Yehudah (Judah) and Binyamin (Benjamin.)
A small grass flowering from above an abandoned bunker.

Looking towards Maaleh Adumim, one of the largest settlements with over 25,000 residents.
You can see the grass growing on the northern sides of the hills, and the scorched earth on the northern sides.
Foreground: new housing in Allon. Background, on the hilltop: the remains of a Crusader castle.


The sun's rays over the Dead Sea.

A spot of sunlight on the Dead Sea.