CHANGES.

FOOD SHOPPING

In the nearly 30 years since we came to live in Jerusalem it is inevitable that we should have seen a great many changes. Most of them, we are happy to say, for the better. Probably the one that has the most impact on our lives are the shopping facilities, both locally in Gilo and in the centre of town, where the general standards have improved immeasurably since our arrival. Gone are the days when one dare not plan meals ahead of time but waited to decide on the menu until one saw what was available in the shops and when the Gilo supermarket was dirty and full of flies. The only cheese available was a tasteless and chewy, yellow variety of the consistency and flavor of rubber and items such as mushrooms were a rarely available luxury. Now we have supermarkets all over Jerusalem that equal the well-known chains in the U.K., our cheese counters stock most of the known varieties, many of them manufactured in Israel, several types of mushrooms are always on sale and our supermarkets and makolets (small local grocery shops) are spotlessly clean and very well stocked. The several large and well-planned shopping malls with free and ample parking, within five minutes driving distance from where we live, have helped to make life a lot easier, especially in very hot or wet weather.

ANIMAL WELFARE

As animal lovers, we have also noticed a big difference in the Israelis attitude to and treatment of animals. On our first visit to Israel nearly 40 years ago, we were greatly distressed at the dozens of emaciated and wretched looking cats we saw foraging in every rubbish container we passed and the sight of a dog that wasn’t a stray was unusual. Now, while there are still a lot of street cats gathered around the bins, they are fatter and healthier looking. Whether this is due to society being more affluent and throwing away more food or because people have become concerned about their plight (Lola is certainly no longer the only person in our road who puts out food and water for them daily) we are not sure. There are, however far too many of them so we were delighted to see headlines in last week’s Jerusalem Post announcing that the Ministry of Agriculture is spending 4.5 million Shekels on a campaign to spay and neuter these cats, the numbers of which are estimated to be in the area of 45 thousand. Very many families now own dogs, often more than one, and several large and well-kept pet shops now supply every possible animal need as well as selling aquarium fish, rabbits, hamsters and cage birds. Laws have recently been passed to enable people neglecting or treating animals cruelly to be prosecuted. We still await laws to improve the lot of farm animals and battery hens, however, and we have yet to have an organisation of the caliber of the R.S.P.C.A. but things on the animal welfare front are certainly moving in the right direction.

CARING FOR THE ENVIRONMENT

Isaelis have also become much greener in the last few years, we now have containers for recycling paper, plastic bottles, batteries and cardboard cartons on every street corner and although it took people, in our area, anyway, a little time to make full use of them but the idea soon caught on and they are now being put to good use. It seems that Israelis have become more aware of the need to care for the environment although we wish children were taught at home and in school not to throw their unwanted litter down in the street and to clean up their rubbish after they have had a picnic.

THE CLIMATE

Even the Jerusalem weather has changed, summer temperatures have risen, sometimes to even higher than in Tel Aviv and we no longer have the cool and refreshing evening breezes that Israelis living in the south and near the coast used to envy. Also rain patterns have changed, the rains seeming to start much later in the winter than in the past, this year we have had only one heavy shower which lasted less than two hours and a few isolated drops which didn’t even make it worthwhile to bring in the washing.

HOPES FOR THE FUTURE

Hopefully the positive changes will continue in all areas of Israeli life and most of all we hope to see the end of BDS, (Boycotts, Divestment and Sanctions) bias and false accusations against Israel from the outside world, there is so much that is good and positive here, we all need to do our best to get this message out to as many people as possible.

Norman & Lola Cohen