Jerusalem: Second Thoughts

Disclaimer: I am not using 'Second Thoughts' in the Pratchett sense.

In my 'Jerusalem: First Impressions' posts (here and here) I was, however, trying to exercise 'First Sight' in the Pratchett sense. Now that I've been here in Jerusalem for nearly two months, I'm revisiting those first impressions and realising that while most of them hold good, some do not correspond to further observations. In the interests of true reporting, therefore, here are some reconsiderations of those points.

Beggars
There are actually plenty of these. My initial impression that there weren't many seems to be because a) I hadn't visited the areas that they tend to frequent more and b) many of them don't fit my expectation of someone sitting on the pavement. They are more likely to be standing or wandering around, accosting likely-looking people - such as friars. So you don't know that they're beggars until they actually come and beg. And many of them seem not to be homeless as such; the rate of homelessness here is relatively low because of a strong family culture among both Jews and Arabs.
Cats
My first impression that there are lots of cats here has in fact turned out to be something of an underestimate. I said that the friary 'has' three cats, whereas the actual number is more like ten! I put 'has' in inverted commas because cats here tend to be semi-wild scavengers and will attach themselves to any household that feeds them. They'll often been seen hanging around bins, waiting for something edible to be dumped.

Cleanliness
Although the touristy areas tend to be kept quite clean, that doesn't necessarily extend to the rest of the city. Arab areas are noticeably more messy, but this might not be entirely their fault. Apparently they get less frequent refuse collections than the Jewish neighbourhoods. When there was a municipal strike for a few days, it didn't take long for the Jewish areas to start looking just as messy as the Arab ones.
Peace
Since my first impressions post things have changed slightly after Donald Trump's 'recognition' of Jerusalem as Israel's capital. The resulting violence wasn't as widespread as the news might give the impression; but there's undeniably been a greater tension in the air. And over time the presence of the army and the police gets more noticeable. I haven't been able to find out how much of the Israeli population belongs to the police force; but I expect it is an unusually large proportion.