The Coming of President Bush

I thought that the armada of police cars along the highway from Ben Gurion into Jerusalem this morning might have been for my benefit, but they were probably actually getting ready for President Bush's visit, which is turning the city into a nightmare. You can see a list of road closures here; it looks like they're just the ones connecting the King David Hotel with Rehavia, where Peres and Olmert live. Lisa also notes a highly limited, temporary change to local satellite TV offerings.

Right now, the Ben Yehuda pedestrian mall is eerily quiet. There's some construction and maintenance going on, and a few groups of people strolling around, but for the most part it seems people are just avoiding the hassles of downtown.