A hurried cup of coffee

The atmosphere was electric again this morning near the Old City. As I was walking up Salahadin Street to get cappuccino at my favorite Arab coffee shop,  I went past two Israeli police on horseback. Further up the street I saw smoke coming from an open dumpster and heard lots of shouting.  I ducked in the coffee shop just as the owner, expecting trouble, was pulling down his metal shutters. At that moment, the mounted police galloped by and we heard the sound of glass shattering, followed by the percussive noise of stun grenades. Again, things seemed to die down fairly quickly but it remains a volatile situation. I'm heading on to Amman, Jordan tomorrow, where protests against the ramp construction have also been held. Jordan's King Abdullah has joined the chorus of Muslim leaders demanding the work be stopped, even though Israel claims it won't cause any damage to Muslim holy sites.  Click on the photo to enlarge it - I took that in the Old City yesterday, where a young Palestinian was recording  all the excitement on his cell phone.