The icing on the cake

As everyone returns to work, school and college and the festivities of the past few weeks come to an end it's a real treat for us that our son C arrived this morning to spend a month here. He'll be working from here, so it's not a holiday, but it's wonderful to have him here with us for longer than we've spent together for many years. To celebrate, I iced the second of the two Jerusalem-inspired clementine and almond cakes I made before Christmas.

Last night I watched 5 Broken Cameras, filmed by Palestinian farmer Emad Burnat. He bought his first camera when his youngest son was born but then began to document the struggle of his village, Bil'in in the West Bank, and its people to resist non-violently the Israeli occupation, the settlements and attacks by settlers and soldiers, and the destruction by Israeli soldiers of four of his cameras while he was filming. It's a powerful and very human film, a personal act of witness of killings, teargassing and the burning and uprooting of olive trees that have been reported in other ways, but I was in tears at the end, wishing I was younger and fitter and able to go there now to help. LoJ persuaded me that I could do more from here, so as I first step I would urge anyone who cares about life and peace to watch this film. It's available to download here

Edit: after a free-offer period over the weekend, there is a charge of $14.95 for downloading the film.