The strange weather (heatwave + duststorm + unseasonal rainfall) and traffic jams made me and T. sit out the Jerusalem Day stuff tonight. The anniversary (acc. to the Hebrew calendar) of the reunification of Jerusalem in 1967 is celebrated particularly by teenagers - eg. the large group that paraded down Emek Refaim this afternoon with Israeli flags. Lots of people go to visit the old city and the Western Wall (where prayers have been conducted for centuries or maybe millenia except for the period of 48-67).

This article describes a talk on European anti-semitism by the always insightful Prof. Mark Lilla, who says that Europeans currently have severe difficulty now with the notions of particularism and the nation-state - and with the Jews who stick adhere to these supposedly antiquated ideas.

Mr. Lilla said: "Even sympathy for Palestinians has an oddly apolitical quality in Europe." Proposed solutions are little more sophisticated than imagining, as Mr. Lilla put it, "Hans Blix zipping around Palestine in his little truck."

This article describes some misreporting by the NYTimes regarding the contents of the "roadmap".