Last Day in Jerusalem

We began early today planning to visit for the Dome of the Rock before it got too crowded, a particular concern because of Ramadan. We arrived as planned only to find out that the Israeli police were closing it to everyone but Muslims because of security concerns. Very disappointing, but I suppose it gave us a small experiential taste of the adjustments that people have to make in conflicted areas. I was also struck, as I have been at the churches we visited this trip, by the incongruent mix of tourists and worshippers in places that are holy to one group and interesting for other reasons to the other. The silver lining of our exclusion was the Palestinian Muslim who stopped to listen while Avi was discussing Islam with us. When Avi asked him to explain why the Dome of the Rock is important to Muslims, he began with the basic tenents, told us a story about Omar praying outside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, and then referenced the Balfour Declaration as the root of the problems in the area.  It was an unexpected and interesting interaction.