A Settler's Funeral in Jerusalem

©David B. Fankhauser, Ph.D.,
Professor of Biology and Chemistry
University of Cincinnati Clermont College,
Batavia OH 45103
The burial site.
Note the Wall in
the far background.

This page has been accessed  Counter times since 14 July 2006. 
14 July 2006
An ultra-orthodox man
surveys the burial

On 27 June 2006, an 18 year old settler was kidnapped from an Israeli settlement in occupied Palestine, and killed.  The burial took place in the Jewish cemetary on the slopes of the Mount of Olives, just below the Seven Arches Hotel were our group was staying.
 

Returning from a meeting in Jerusalem to the Mount of Olives, our bus was stopped about a kilometer away from our hotel by Israeli soldiers.  Here is the road block and our group walking back to our hotel.  Soldiers were posted outside the Seven Arches:

Soldiers amassed on the overlook just below the hotel:

 

A large number of tour busses brought in settler's for the funeral, as they walked by jewish tombs to the interment site:

 

Part of the ceremony is for friends and family to place a handful of dirt over the grave.

At the conclusion, there is a ritual washing of hands before leaving the cemetary.  An unusual cluster of English Sparrows assembled nearby.

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