Oh, to be a cat, sleeping on a Roman ruin or a pile of fine embroidery.

There’s feral cats all over Israel, and they’re the one thing that unites everyone across the Middle East – Jews, Arabs, religious, secular – everyone has a soft spot for them. There’s dishes of water and food put out on every street corner, and the cats are largely allowed to go as they please.

This one decided to claim my bag during a meeting in East Jerusalem – I was real close to taking her back to Canada with me.