Autumn door

I've been trying to take photos of this door for a while and, since I never catch it with the sun on it anyway, this morning under grey cloud seemed as good a time as any.

My mood fits the grey light today as I'm saddened by the explosion of violence in the Middle East. I'm a pacificist and I don't support violence on either side of the Palestinian-Israeli argument but I do understand that if people are boxed into a corner, literally, they will react. I think that the only way to ensure peace is to allow the Palestinian people the space and freedom to live their lives. As always, the Egyptian writer Ahdaf Souief writes sensibly on the hope that the Arab spring has given for this process:

In every Arab country where the people rise up to demand their rights, they demand action on Palestinian rights as well. Tunis has just announced that its foreign minister is heading for Gaza. In Jordan today, hundreds of thousands were on the streets and, as well as demanding the fall of their own regime, they're also calling for justice for Palestine. Protesters are out in Libya. In Egypt, people are heading for Rafah. We are heading for true representation of the people's will in the region and, in the coming years, governments will need to follow the road shown to them by their people.

Her article on the Guardian website is here