Yesterday was the ‘multi-faith’ tour of the old city in Jerusalem. Although it is well known that Islam, Christianity, and Judaism all have sacred sites within the old city, it is impossible to understand the intense proximity of these sites until visiting in person. As we meandered through the ancient stone streets, holy sites remained visible at every turn. Tension between the faiths, sects, traditionalists and seculars is ever present. You can feel tension in the air. Calm feels like it can be broken with a single wrong word. From Dome of the Rock the evening call to prayer bellows from loud speakers and echoes through the hills, as orthodox jews bow to the western wall merely meters away. And yet, people in this city live in solitude from their neighbors. The complexity of this conflict is not something you can read in a book or learn from TV. You cannot sense it from Tel Aviv. But out my apartment window, history is unfolding.
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