Awake, for morning in the bowl of night has flung the stone that puts the stars to flight.
And, lo, has caught the sultan’s turret in a noose of light!
Spanish life is not always likeable but it is compellingly loveable: Christopher Howse: ‘A Pilgrim in Spain’
Cosas de España
Spain – which holds the EU residency at the moment – opposes the suspension of EU aid payments to the Palestinian territories. As to what’s actually happening, it’s very hard to say. First, there was an announcement that they would be. Then, after reaction from Spain and France, it was reported that there was to be no suspension. Now, today, we have this, saying payments are suspended. I think. Extract: The European commissioner who sparked a Brussels communications debacle over whether to keep sending development aid to Palestine has doubled down on his insistence that funds are suspended, and warned that an audit was required to make sure there was no “indirect” financing of terror group Hamas-
HT to Lenox Napier of Business Over Tapas for the news that Researchers and archaeologists have discovered mysterious artificial walls under the Gulf of Cádiz that could be the remains of the fabled Atlantis. We await confirmation with breath bated.
The latest tourist-related development in Pv city is guided tours of the old quarter in English, by folk other than me. And these folk charge. I’ve not yet come across one but a friend insists they’re taking place. More and more like Santiago de Compostela – or Oporto – every day.
This is denuded square is the best place to have a copa or lunch on a sunny day in the city.
It’s shared by two bars. For reasons way beyond me, both of these close on the same 2 days mid-week. Perhaps some reader can explain this income-defying approach to me.
Another quote from Cees Noteboom’s Roads to Santiago – a follow up to yesterday’s: The courts of al-Andalus were centres of learning where Muslims, Jews and Christians studied the works of Plato and Aristotle: when Ferdinand III died in 1252 Mohammed Iof Granada sent hundreds of envoys to pay their respects to the king who had joined León and Castilla firmly under one crown, and his epitaph was written in Latin, Arabic, Castilian, and Hebrew. His son, Alfonso El Sabio, The Wise, appointed committees of Jews, Muslims and Christians to devote themselves to two monumental scholarly projects he had undertaken, Las Tablas Alfonsíes and El Libro del Saber de Astronomía, and all the while the scholarly man steadily continued to wage war, thereby securing Cádiz and Cartagena after centuries of Muslim rule. The realisation that the knights of both sides who had to engage in combat made arrangements beforehand for the day of the battle almost transforms the period of the Reconquista into a protracted game of chess.
The UK
It shames us all that the UK, in 2023, is harbouring the world’s oldest hatred once again. Not just in the UK, of course.
No, Hamas is not struggling against apartheid.
The EU
From the cited FT article on payments to Palestine . . . The communication shambles has exposed the fractures inside the commission and the lack of co-ordination on critical issues. Of which there are quite a lot these days, of course. The nature of the beast..
Russia
Good/Bad News: Russia has been defeated in its attempt to regain a seat in the UN’s top human rights body by a significant majority at the general assembly, which voted last year to suspend Moscow after its invasion of Ukraine. Russia was competing against Albania and Bulgaria for 2 seats on the human rights council representing the East European regional group. In the secret ballot vote, Bulgaria received 160 votes, Albania 123 and Russia 83. Moscow had claimed that it had support from a silent majority and, even though 83 votes represent less than half the 193 UN member nations, there is certain to be concern that Russia’s support was that high.
Russia v Ukraine
Effie Deans believes that Ukraine just lost the war, if it hadn’t already done so.
The Way of the World
Anti-Semitism, the West’s original sin.
English
I’ve been trying to find out what ‘microaggressions’ are. Which led me to wondering if, at the extreme, one commits one by being thin among fat folk. Or having blue eyes, when everyone around you has brown eyes. Probably not.
Spanish
I’ve known for a long time that the word nuez/nueces shouldn’t really be used for ‘nut/nuts’ as it means only walnut. But I only learnt last night – after asking – that the generic term is fruto seco. Or ‘dried fruit’. My impression is that a pack of fruto seco can, indeed, include dried fruit as well as nuts.
Did you know? . . .
I finally got round to checking on what Substack is. Should you want to know, click here.
Finally . . .
For some reason, my ad blocker stopped working, leading to me having to endure 6 minutes of ads before the start of YouTube videos. Needless to say, these were ‘targeted’, though both accurately and inaccurately; I have been looking at foto-sticks but, despite my advanced age, I don’t wake at night for a pee or three. So, it was doubly irritating – before I solved the problem- to have to sit through 3 minutes of an ad for something to do with my prostate.
More here from the gypsy jazz group, Bouche Manouche.
Welcome to new subscriber Keith from Valencia, whose own blog you can visit here.
For new readers:– If you’ve landed here looking for info on Galicia or Pontevedra, try here. If you’re passing through Pontevedra on the Camino, you’ll find a guide to the city there – updated a bit in early July 2023.
For those thinking of moving to Spain:- This is an extremely comprehensive and accurate guide to the challenge, written by a Brit who lives in both the North and the South and who’s very involved in helping Camino walkers.
Thoughts from Pontevedra, Galicia, Spain 
Difficult days ahead, As an Israeli-Brit living in Galicia, I was shocked and horrified by the images we all have seen coming from Israel after the savage and brutal attack by Hamas. I never paint anyone with a broad brush and I wish like many in Israel that the Palestinians and Israelis could live in peace side by side. I am in favour of an independent Palestinian state. We can talk about the details, borders, capital and other forms of reconciliation later. The sad reality is that with arms this goal will never be achieved and the cycle of violence will continue. You can not demand ‘Freedom’ by taking others. Sadly the hypocrisy in the West is so familiar. For decades the ‘Left’ has been blind to the realities on the ground and how, money and aid are used to buy weapons of war rather than food, clothing or invested in real education (not brain-washing) or jobs for people on the ground. Gaza has been under the control of Hamas for decades now and the lives of ordinary Palestinians living in Gaza are no different. Why does Israel have to provide access across the border? Why does it need to provide work to the Palestinians? 20,000 of which worked inside Israel the week before the brutal attack. Why are they not free to move and work with their Muslim brothers in Egypt for example? Until the Palestinians lay their arms, renounce terrorism as a tool to achieve ‘Freedom’ and acknowledge Israel’s and Jew’s right to exist, there will never be peace. Sad but true.
LikeLike
I agree totally. Hammas doesn’t want “freedom”, it wants to establish a theocracy in which no one is free, like Iran, which supplies them with money and intelligence. But, the right-wing government of Israel would also much rather wipe out the Palestinian people, than work to make Israel a truly egalitarian state. Proof is that an ultranationalist Israeli Jew assassinated Yitzhak Rabin, who was trying to bring about peace between Israelis and Palestinians, which is the first step toward such a state. It’s a complete mess, and the innocents are always the ones that pay.
LikeLike
Thanks. Well said.
LikeLike
Should an Israeli state have been created in Palestine in the first place? On lands inhabited for many centuries by other people, who were never asked for an opinion, or when asked were simply ignored? Having said that, I would love for Israel to survive because, let’s face it, it is the only democracy of any kind in that part of the world, and the alternative is another bleak authoritarian pseudo-islamic state or a military dictatorship. So mixed feelings all around.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Wipe out the Palestinians? That view is unsupported by reality. Yes, sadly there are senseless casualties like in any conflict. The IDF doesn’t rape women partygoers. The IDF doesn’t hunt down families hiding in their basements. Those who continue to try and compare the two cultures that insist on both-sideism, simply do not understand the realities on the ground. There is a huge difference between IDF fighting a conventional war and what happened on Saturday. Yes, there are ultranationalists in any society (See Vox) However, those of us who believe in peace will fight to preserve the secular democracy in Israel, for which there have been unprecedented demonstrations for the last 6 months. This will be more important in the days to come. However, to stand and suggest Israel do nothing is a fantasy.
LikeLike
I have to disagree with your assumptions, premises, and characterizations. First, I must say that what appears to be your morality is to say the least – interesting. Second, here are some observations from an acquaintance (as stated by him and not revised by me) who has personal, relevant experience:
“I’m in touch with a Gazan friend almost daily.. for years. I never heard a word of hatred from him.. not once! But a neighbour of mine, a retired IDF degenerate, boasts out loud about the many Palestinian children he has murdered! ..his only regret being he didn’t murder many more! The most hateful, sad excuse for a human being I ever encountered in my 73 years.
Those are but two examples but personally I have no experience of any other beyond what I see with my own eyes on TV.. almost daily bombing of innocent civilians perpetrated by one of the most powerful armies in the world. It is state terrorism, little better than Germany’s in the 1940s.”
However you want to characterize, judge, or justify any side’s conduct or particular acts, from what I have seen over the years, Israel is reaping what it has sown.
LikeLike
Hamas’s acts do not excuse Israel’s war crimes.
The Palestinians have been living with:
75 years of ethnic cleansing.
15 years of blockade.
Confiscation of Palestinian lands.
Pogroms on Palestinian towns.
Desecration of Palestinian sacred sites.
Daily raids into Palestinian homes.
Constant humiliation of a entire people.
…
— Amer Zahr (@AmerZahr) October 7, 2023 https://tinyurl.com/yc6zccru
The Hamas offensive did not happen spontaneously out of nowhere.
The problem with oppressing a population with maximum force is that at some point they start figuring they’ve got nothing to lose by fighting back.
It is unlikely that this latest uprising will end well for Palestinians. This does not mean that the Palestinian resistance should be condemned for fighting back. Doing so would be nonsensical.
Firstly, I have not seen any explanation of what the Palestinians should do instead that is both realistic and reasonable. It would be easy to sit in one’s armchair and say the Palestinians should either maintain the status quo or lie down, relinquish their homes and homeland and accept whatever table scraps they’re able to get. But, from the perspective of anyone living under the Palestinians’ circumstances, that is not reasonable. It would be easy to sit in an armchair and argue that Palestinians should just focus on securing a one-state or two-state solution, but we can see from history and the Israeli political landscape that that’s not realistic.
So what else can they do? What reasonable and realistic options do they have? I have not seen a satisfactory answer.
Secondly, it would be nonsensical to condemn the actions of Hamas on the grounds that it will make things worse for the Palestinians because the fact that Israel always responds to Palestinian resistance by killing a lot of Palestinians is itself a very concrete manifestation of the abuses the Palestinians are resisting. It is not legitimate for anyone to tell another to stop resisting an abuser just because it will cause them to receive more abuse; that’s not a valid reason to condemn resistance.
Ultimately this is Palestinians doing what they feel they need to do out of total desperation, because they feel backed into a corner with no other options. And, they feel backed into a corner with no other options because that does appear to be the case. There are a lot of people one could blame for their being in those circumstances, but the very last on that list would be the victims of the abuse themselves.
Israel is an apartheid regime that abuses and oppresses an indigenous ethnic group who don’t have the same rights as others. [“Amnesty joins rights groups in accusing Israel of apartheid” https://tinyurl.com/jf6k6uv2%5D Remember this as the bodies pile up and Gaza is turned into a smoldering crater and Netanyahu casually posts Israeli war crime videos on his timeline: https://t.co/dS7OUbZiFL . And, if you somehow consider Israel’s conduct acceptable and appropriate, do know that when they show video clips of the buildings getting blown up, you’re not seeing the people being crushed to death underneath them and ripped apart in the blasts. It’s not just a fun little sanitized clip of an explosion, like you’re watching an action movie or playing a video game.
LikeLike
Sorry. Please revise my last sentence to read “… you’re seeing the people …” and not “you’re not seeing the people….”
LikeLike
Negotiation with evil is not a strategy, it’s surrender! The West has to wake up or it will sleepwalk into its own destruction.
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, a large number of Jews immigrated to first Ottoman & (after 1922) Mandatory Palestine. According to Alexander Scholch, the population of Palestine in 1850 was about 350,000 inhabitants, 30% of whom lived in 13 towns; roughly 85% were Muslims, 11% were Christians and 4% Jews.
According to Ottoman statistics studied by Justin McCarthy, the population of Palestine in the early 19th century was 350,000, in 1860 it was 411,000 & in 1900 about 600,000 of whom 94% were Arabs. In 1914 Palestine had a population of 657,000 Muslim Arabs, 81,000 Christian Arabs, & 59,000 Jews. McCarthy estimates the non-Jewish population of Palestine at 452,789 in 1882; 737,389 in 1914; 725,507 in 1922; 880,746 in 1931 & 1,339,763 in 1946.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palestine_(region)#Demographics
Before the modern state of Israel was founded in 1948, Palestine & its Arab inhabitants were in an abysmal condition. Israel is the modern democratic state it is today, because of the efforts of its population. As of March 2023, Israel’s population stands at approximately 9.73 million. Jews make up the majority at 73.5% (about 7.145 million individuals). The Arab community, spanning various religions excluding Judaism, accounts for 21% (around 2.048 million). An additional 5.5% (roughly 534,000 individuals) are classified as “others.” This diverse group comprises those with Jewish ancestry but not recognized as Jewish by religious law, non-Jewish family members of Jewish immigrants, Christian non-Arabs, Muslim non-Arabs, and residents without a distinct ethnic or religious categorization.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Israel
LikeLike
Perry, Someone is using yr name and email acct for the Amazon gift card scam. Using surname Debell. I guess u need to tell all yr friends and maybe change yr email address.
LikeLike
“Before the modern state of Israel was founded in 1948, Palestine & its Arab inhabitants were in an abysmal condition.” Yes dear Perry. But one musn’t forget Palestine was ruled by none other than Great Britain from around 1920 to 1948.
LikeLike