Israelis ushered in the Jewish New Year amid new fears of war, following fresh rocket attacks from Gaza.
At the same time, however, a flurry of diplomacy with the Palestinians has revived peacemaking for the first time in seven years.
The Rosh Hashana holiday, followed 10 days later by Yom Kippur -- the Day of Atonement -- is traditionally a time for taking stock of spiritual and cultural values, and Israelis were in thoughtful mood in the hours before the start of the holiday, at sunset on Wednesday.
At the lively open air Mahane Yehuda market in Jerusalem, where shoppers scrambled to stock up on food before the two-day holiday, some Israelis expressed discontent with the government and frustration with the continued conflict with the Palestinians.
"I don't think you'll find any Israeli who's optimistic," said Ari Bouderhem, 47, owner of the Emil coffee shop. "It's not in our nature."
Bourderhem said holiday business was better than last year, which was marred by an inconclusive summer war with the Hezbollah militia in Lebanon. But he said he saw rough times ahead and "maybe a war."
Jewish families celebrate Rosh Hashana by eating apples and honey and other traditional foods symbolizing sweetness and prosperity. The holiday this year falls on the same day as the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
In a routine measure, the Israeli military ordered a closure of Israel's borders with the West Bank and Gaza over the holiday, when packed synagogues, beaches and parks in Israel are seen as being particularly vulnerable to attack.
On Tuesday, a Palestinian rocket from Gaza struck an army base in southern Israel, wounding 40 soldiers, one critically.
Israeli ground troops entered the central Gaza Strip on Wednesday night. But the military described the incursion as routine and said it was not part of a large-scale mission.
Israel's government has ruled out a large-scale military retaliation amid concerns it could undermine fledgling peace talks with the moderate Fatah movement in control of the West Bank.
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
TRUMP EFFECT: The win capped one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian political history after the Conservatives had led the Liberals by more than 20 points Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday pledged to win US President Donald Trump’s trade war after winning Canada’s election and leading his Liberal Party to another term in power. Following a campaign dominated by Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, Carney promised to chart “a new path forward” in a world “fundamentally changed” by a US that is newly hostile to free trade. “We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” said Carney, who led the central banks of Canada and the UK before entering politics earlier this year. “We will win this trade war and
Armed with 4,000 eggs and a truckload of sugar and cream, French pastry chefs on Wednesday completed a 121.8m-long strawberry cake that they have claimed is the world’s longest ever made. Youssef El Gatou brought together 20 chefs to make the 1.2 tonne masterpiece that took a week to complete and was set out on tables in an ice rink in the Paris suburb town of Argenteuil for residents to inspect. The effort overtook a 100.48m-long strawberry cake made in the Italian town of San Mauro Torinese in 2019. El Gatou’s cake also used 350kg of strawberries, 150kg of sugar and 415kg of
RSS