London calling..
My last day has arrived and it’s time to head back to sunny London town. Ahh, I can just imagine it now; friendly faces in the street, bidding good morning to each other as they head to the park to bask in the glow from the mid-morning sun.. My time here’s been a fantastic experience, [...]
and the winner is…erm.. possibly..
Israel. It never likes doing anything the easy way, it seems. As expected, yesterday proved to be a mammoth 22 hour shift, ending in Tel Aviv at the Likud party base for what was supposed to be Benjamin Netanyahu’s victory speech. But as has become increasingly familiar out here, things didn’t go according to plan [...]
A glorious morning for a massive election
On your marks.. Get set.. Vote! As a little recap, election day in Israel is here with current polls suggesting a tight race between the hawkish former premier Benjamin Netanyahu and centrist Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, with the far-right expected to make major gains. Following “Operation Cast Lead” in the Gaza strip and continued threats [...]
It’ll all end in tear(gas)
Friday? That makes it tear-gas o’clock.. Today, I joined up with Abbas once more and headed to the village of Billin to cover the latest round of weekly clashes with the Israeli Defence Force soldiers. Different to last week, the routine at Billin is to approach the wall along a dirt track until you reach [...]
Rabbi keen
On Tuesday, I had the chance to go to a Ger Hassidim wedding in central Jerusalem with AFP photographer Menahem Kahana. Living in North London, I’m used to the sight of members of the Hassidic Jewish faith and their particular style of Spodik hats and long black coats but to find myself in among hundreds [...]
Are you serious, Joe? Not even at the Ramada?
After a morning of inter-photographer violence in the Yehuda market place in Jerusalem as Benjamin Netanyahu visited, a quick tally of damage showed no physical damage to me but a rather deformed pair of sunglasses. With a quick edit out of the way, a decision was made to head into the West Bank to Bethlehem [...]
The road to Masada
Yesterday I was faced with my first day off since arriving so decided to head out and see some of the sights on offer. Using my trusty Satnav, I punched in “Dead Sea” and headed off down Route 1. Having been told before that it was only an hours drive, I was surprised to see [...]
Jumping Jack Flashbang, it’s gas gas gas..
Holy Land? More like Holy Fu.. On arrival, I’d been told about the “Friday protests” where there’s always a few scuffles between security forces and those with anger to vent so I wasn’t surprised to be told I was to cover one this week. My assigned protest was to be the weekly rumble between fired-up [...]
West Bank Story
Yesterday, I hitched a lift with AFP driver Mano and headed into West Bank for a press conference and another grip’n’grin with man-of-the-moment US envoy George Mitchell at the Palestinian HQ, the Mukata. Heading into West Bank was quite an eye-opener for me as, until I saw it myself, I had assumed that it would [...]
Trying not to bungle Tzipi
With a slim idea of what daily life will entail for me now beginning to form, I took the chance to head back to the Old City this morning for further exploration. Aside from pre-determined jobs that are called through to me, I know that the rest of the time I’m just “on duty”. While [...]
Likud into shape
With my grasp of Israeli politics now so strong, it’s comparable to the vice-like grip of a sleeping toddler, I headed off on my first real assignment today as Benjamin Netanyahu formally launched the Likud Party’s election campaign. I say first real assignment but this doesn’t include yesterday’s mission to cover the funeral of a [...]
Middle Eastern promise
So with a rather surprising twist, tonight I find myself in my hotel room in Jerusalem at the start of a two week assignment to the local bureau to assist in the coverage of the upcoming elections. Never having been to Israel before, it was somewhat of a shock to the system to have the [...]
Czech yo’ head
Being the selfless martyr that I am, I know that the best birthday present to give anyone is the one that results in you also getting to enjoy it. As I was pretty sure that Kirsten wouldn’t be too impressed with a Nintendo Wii, I opted to book a weekend in Prague. Thanks to the [...]
On the Fidel..
Going on holiday to Cuba during the hurricane season may not have been the wisest move but Kirsten and I always enjoy a challenge. As the holiday got closer and the news channels talked of the damage from Hurricane Gustav and the impending impact of Hurricane Ike, we duly packed out flip-flops and headed to [...]
See Bre Free
Kilometres! The measurement of choice for the MTV generation! Gasp as the units fly past! Laugh as the satnav talks in metres for once rather than “yards”! (I mean, WHO knows how far a yard is?) Feel all tough like Kris Kristofferson in “Convoy” as what was only a quite short journey feels like a [...]
Ban Ki-moon is coming to town..
In late April 2008, I got the chance to travel around West Africa with the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon. Visiting Ghana, Liberia, Burkina Faso and Cote d’Ivoire, the trip was a chance for “Spanky” and his wife to check out the work being done in some of the previously-unstable countries in the [...]
