  The
sounds of Zababdeh:
4:45 AM, Muslim prayer (40 sec.) 6:00 AM, Church bells (40 sec.) 6:30 AM, sheep 7:30 AM, National Anthem (40 sec.) 24-7, Electrical generator (5 sec.) All night long, cow (14 sec.) Night-time, shooting (5 sec.) |
|
3/1/01: While we were gone last month for the International Sabeel Conference in Jerusalem, our telephone was disconnected. Since all of our building's telephones are in the name of our landlord, and since one person recently moved out without paying his phone bill, all of the lines were cut. No amount of pleading with them and showing them our paid phone bill would change their mind. It seems the Palestinians have learned a thing or two about collective punishment. In any case, the bill has now been paid and we are among the reachable. |
  3/2/01:
Today we made a return visit to Tubas with
Zababdeh friends who have family there. The Christians in Tubas number
forty-seven in a population of about 10,000. They seemed to be moved
by the mere fact that we knew there are Christians there and welcomed us
(no surprise there) quite warmly. They just completed building a
new church hall (for a supposedly dying Palestinian Christian community,
what better sign of hope is there?). On the way home, our new-old
car had some problems. The gas pedal stubbornly stuck to the floor
and refused to relent. By the time we got to nearby 'Aqaba, we were
a bit anxious to solve the problem. When we tried to bring the car
to stop in a gas station, there was the wonderful sound of metal against
metal as smoke began to pour from the hood. Then there was the fantastic
pool of car fluid and the sight of a busted gear. The transmission
was shot. And there aren't too many tow trucks in the Northern West
Bank these days. Soon a tractor came and rigged a rubber hose and
some scrap metal as a hitch to bring us into Zababdeh. Hospitable,
resourceful, and generous. So many stereotypes subverted in one moment.
Here we were, the Americans whose tax dollars are contributing to their
oppression. Here we were, with Israeli license plates. And
here we were, Christians in a Muslim town. None of that mattered
- we were people in need, and they came to our aid. What more can
be said? |
|
3/3/01: The car is still sick. Our mechanic is desperately trying to find a 1987 Citroen automatic transmission that can make it through the dozens and dozens of roadblocks. Meanwhile, the school has seven teachers absent on this, the last day before the holiday. The French teachers are still in Nazareth with their sick baby, one teacher is on pilgrimage to Mecca, one is sick, and three have left for a conference in Turkey. Needless to say, there was a need for substitutes today. Marthame taught the 9th grade English and French classes in a creative way - letting them play soccer! |
   3/4/01:
The transmission has been located, but not in time to depart for the 'Eid
(holiday). We got away anyway - our neighbor was headed down to the
Gaza Strip (music - 3 sec. - courtesy of
the Pixies) to see his family and invited us to come along. Since
the restart of the Intifada, access into and out of Gaza has been
tightly limited, and we had been anxious to go and see life there.
When we hit traffic outside of Netanya, we turned on the radio to hear
about the bomb that had killed three there this morning. The cycle
clearly continues...We arrived to Gaza and passed through the Erez checkpoint
(it has been built up now to look like a huge international border, more
than US-Mexico). We had no problems, as we were all American or European
nationals in an E.U. car. On the other side, we found the waiting
taxis who have had little to no work for months. Now no Palestinians
are permitted to leave to work, and no Israelis - except settlers and soldiers
- are permitted to enter. It is completely cut off. We began
our fifty kilometer journey to Abasan  driving
along the beach. There we saw once-burgeoning efforts at building
a tourist industry. In many ways, they stand like monuments to the
empty promises of peace. Completed hotels are vacant. Many
projects stand half-completed along the beautiful Mediterranean shore.
We then drove through the notorious 
Beach Refugee Camp (most of Gaza's population are refugees and their descendants
from 1948), where people have built with little or no infrastructure except
the little that the United Nations is able to provide. In Gaza City,
we took a walk through the crowded souq (market) and ducked into
the great mosque. One sheikh said it was OK for a Christian pastor
to enter, the other said no. Marthame entered it - it had originally
been a Canaanite Temple, then a Jewish Synagogue, then a Christian church
(there is evidence of an old picture of St. Helena) before becoming a mosque.
Halfway to our destination we confronted the full absurdity of the Occupation
and the Intifada. There is a road which is shared by Palestinians
traversing the Strip and by settlers entering from the East into Kfar Darom.
This stretch has been split lengthwise by concrete barriers, and Israeli
tanks stand at each end of the road. Israelis travel on one side,
and Palestinians travel on the other. When an Israeli car or truck
enters the road, the soldiers halt all Palestinian traffic until the Israeli
car passes. You know it is your turn to go or stop because they fire
their guns into the air. 5000 Israeli settlers, 1.5 million Palestinians,
and these ludicrous moments, after seven years of peace talks. We
made it to Abasan just in time to see the family's beautiful garden and
enjoy our last meatless meal for a while. |
  3/5/01:
Today was the beginning of 'Eid al-Adha, the Muslim feast which celebrates
the sparing of Ishmael (in the Qur'an, it is understood that Abraham took
his firstborn - i.e. Ishmael not Isaac - to sacrifice) from the knife of
Abraham, and marks the end of the season for pilgrimage to Mecca.
Most families this year are using chickens (because of the lack of money)
instead of the usual sheep. We had a cow, and will spare you the
details
unless you really want to see them. We spent most of the rest of
the day eating meat and lounging around the house and the garden while
our host went on the requisite family visits that seem to take up most
of the holiday. A nice, nice day of rest. |
   3/6/01:
Meat for breakfast, then it was time to feed the sheep. The mother
of these babies is ill and so the babies need to be fed by hand (video
- 5 sec.). Elizabeth cozied up to them. We then went on a drive
around the see the family's lands. One particular stop was their
tomato greenhouse. Almost all of the produce grown in Gaza (for local
consumption and export) is grown in the southern region. But now
it is impossible not only to export, but even to bring past the Kfar Darom
traffic snarl to the north end of the Gaza Strip. As a result, prices
in Gaza are through the roof while prices near Abasan and Khan Yunis have
plummeted to less than 10% (a big box of tomatoes now costs 50 cents).
In this family's case (and in many others), it costs more in petrol to
drive to the greenhouse to pick up their own tomatoes than it does to buy
them from a nearby greenhouse. The result is that most of the produce
is simply rotting on the vine while people in  Gaza
City have none. Economic strangulation. As more family visits
continued, we met cousins who were Palestinians born in Algeria.
Since their father was not Algerian, they cannot have Algerian citizenship.
Having been born abroad, they don't have Palestinian identity cards, either.
They came six years ago on a tourist visa and are working as medical doctors,
but have no citizenship. This means that they cannot travel abroad
- or now even within the Gaza Strip without the possibility of arrest or
expulsion. There are an estimated 70,000 people in Gaza in similar circumstances.
We pondered these things as we gazed at the beautiful view and peaceful
sunset (video - 14 sec.). |
 3/7/01:
We wanted to spend one more day in Gaza (where no one tried to eat
us!), but had to get to Jerusalem to take care of some business.
We took the two hour taxi ride across the Strip, Elizabeth getting car
sick on the way - something about the combination of stop and go traffic,
loud music, the heat, and tanks everywhere, maybe? When we reached
the split road of Kfar Darom, the bottleneck of Palestinian taxis was overwhelming.
But even worse was the loud "boom" we heard as we passed the Israeli tank
(at least one gun is always pointed at the traffic) - turned out to be
from an airplane, probably, but not the noise you want to hear then.
We were dropped off at the Palestinian side, and walked the 100 yards to
the Israeli side (taxi drivers offering to take us for a dollar as they
waited for business that would never come). The Israeli interrogation
consisted of one question, "What does the 'III' in your name mean?"
We grabbed a waiting taxi to Jerusalem, where we enjoyed the company of
good friends, real ice cream, an uplifting episode of "Ally McBeal", and
a rousing game of Boggle. |
  3/8/01:
Today is the Jewish festival of Purim, which celebrates the liberation
of the Jews in Persia from the evil Haman who sought to destroy them.
It also celebrates the murder of the enemies of the Jews and the hanging
of the sons of Haman. A reveler in the New City decided that the
parallel held up between Haman and Arafat, and decided to let everyone
know. In its more secular form, Purim becomes a kind of Halloween
with costume parties. We took a long walk around the Old City, stopping
in for lunch with our friends at the Latin Patriarchate. Today the
IDF (Israeli Defense Force) has cut the road between the Christian village
of Bir Zeit and Ramallah. The parish priest Abuna Iyad was there,
along with Abuna Aktham from 'Ayoub - he had been forced to plead his way
across a roadblock to bring a sick child from his parish to the hospital
in Ramallah. We helped them word an English-language press release,
and then shared a good conversation with Abuna Ra'ed, a native son of Zababdeh,
about the potential the village holds. After a quick visit to friends
at World Vision and St. George's Anglican
Cathedral, we returned "home" for more Boggle and food. We were periodically
interrupted by Purim celebrations which consisted of really, really loud
firecrackers (is that such a good idea right now?), and then headed off
to meet peace activist friends, old and new, Jewish and Japanese. |
|
3/9/01: Traveling back was a little more complex than we had anticipated. Normally, taxis leave for Ramallah from the Damascus Gate. Given the increased closures (Ariel Sharon took office this week), taxis to Ramallah meet on a side street and are unmarked vans. We arrived in Ramallah and visited the vast resources of the British Consulate before meeting our taxi back to Zababdeh (he goes once a day roundtrip). One of our stops was the ar-Ram checkpoint to pick up Heineken for a Zababdeh liquor store. On our way there, we saw two ten year-old boys running across the street and into an open field, ducking behind a big rock. We slowly realized what was happening, that they were throwing stones at the Israeli soldiers across the street guarding an empty field from their bulletproof jeep. We turned just in time to see a soldier aiming his gun at them, realizing that we were driving towards the line of fire. As we passed, the gun went off - we all ducked in reflex, but the car was untouched - not sure about the two boys who apparently posed a great security risk. Only one word can describe the scene we witnessed - obscenity. The route back took the usual detours, but as we approached a yellow-plated settler car from behind, our driver quickly slowed. Apparently this route has, more than once, brought him into range of stone-throwing Israeli youth. Thankfully, there was no incident this time. We made it home safe and sound, getting rest for our first day back at school tomorrow. |
 3/10/01:
The school is well, the car is well. We exchanged the usual greetings
with our fellow teachers after the break ("May next year bring you grace"
- "Praise God you're safe"). After Mass tonight, we went with Abuna
Louis to visit the two sheikhs from the local mosque. We drank coffee
and tea, talked about politics and religion. It's clear that a strong
relationship of trust and mutual respect has been cultivated, as they discussed
particular passage in the Qur'an and the Bible. We then had a chance
to share with Abuna Louis some of our conversation with Abuna Ra'ed in
Jerusalem and are anxious to work together to explore some potential projects
in the village. |
   3/11/01:
A late Sunday afternoon walk in the mountain with our friends. Our
presence seemed to have aroused the suspicion of some locals, who stopped
their truck and came to find out if we were Arabs or Jews. Apparently
our friends from Zababdeh passed the test, leaving us free to picnic, play
some 'oud (Marthame flails - audio - 11
sec.), and enjoy the beauty of the local flowers and a breathtaking eagle's
eye view of Zababdeh. Our day of relaxation was rounded out by watching
a movie (!) with our neighbors - that's been a long time coming. |
   3/13/01:
Following school today, we were anticipating a visit from a group of fifteen
Americans, mostly pastors, coordinated by World
Vision International 's Jerusalem office. We got a call from
them that they had made their way up the Jordan Valley and would be at
our friendly little checkpoint in about an hour. Elizabeth and I
went to meet them. As we drove from Zababdeh to the Jalame/Afula
checkpoint, we noted all the things they would see on their drive - bulldozed
roads, taxis stuck trying to get around roadblocks to take people home,
Israeli settlements, IDF camps, etc. We arrived at the checkpoint
and waited for them, talking to the Israeli soldiers while we waited.
It turned out that they needed permission to enter (which was granted).
The soldier we talked to was clearly interested in practicing his English.
He was also a lot more interested in the possibility of going to hang out
with his friends on the beach than on further military service. We
talked with him about many things, among them his experience in Hebron
. "I'm not allowed to tell you this," he said, "but  the
problem there is the Israeli settlers - not the Palestinians." He
also talked about the settlers that come through the Jalame/Afula checkpoint.
They're not religious idealogues, just people interested in affording a
certain standard of living. West Bank settlements allow them that
- all eighty of them. "But the Palestinians are much nicer," he commented.
Just then two Israeli police vans pulled up from the Israeli side, depositing
Palestinians at the checkpoint - apparently workers who had snuck in illegally
and had been caught. They were reading pieces of paper, likely telling
them how much their fines were. This was also about the time that
we re-established phone contact with our coming guests, who had come through
a different checkpoint and were now on their way to Zababdeh. We
caught up with them at the school, where they were receiving the grand
tour. There was traditional Palestinian dancing by the children (video
- 13 sec.), and then each of the visitors was paired with a different family
in the village. The idea was to connect them with older students
in the school to give them a chance to practice their English. We
then took a short tour of the village, seeing a traditional Palestinian
house or two and the ancient mosaics, before they split up for the evening
with their families. We joined one, eating some of our favorite local
dishes and enjoying the famous Palestinian hospitality. |
   3/14/01:
The World Vision group came to the school assembly that morning, to share
words of encouragement and to get a further tour of the school and the
new hall (where the old hall once was) now under construction. They
headed off that morning for further tours of the area, but it was clear
that the trip already had made an impact. 
Many asked questions about how to be involved in grassroots peace efforts
in the States. Following school today, the Scouting group met.
They have not had many meetings this year, partly because of the situation
and partly because of leadership strategy - the keys to their meeting space
were turned over to two of the youth who were told that they would get
full support if they would take the first step. They did, so we'll see
how it goes from here. Our evening was rounded off by a visit to
one of our neighboring families. The father has severe psoriasis,
to the point that he aches so bad he can't work but a couple of hours a
day. Their house is crumbling and they're in legal battles with their
landlords. Between medical problems (and costs) and the escalating
economic crisis, they are a family in much trouble. They asked us
quite frankly if there was anything we could do to help them. Such
requests are coming more and more as the economy crumbles and as people
are aware that we are a bridge to the west. We're not sure where
this will all lead us, but we are having to do some real discernment now
about how to engage such a facet of our ministry faithfully and in a way
that won't build dependence. |
   3/15/01:
Usually the students of the school get a chance to go on a couple of field
trips during the year - Nazareth, Haifa, Jerusalem, Ramallah - but they
haven't been able to do any such things this year. The seventh grade
teachers decided to take them on a walk through the mountains for a nice
picnic. We tagged along. Every one had their piece to carry
- the fruit, the meat, the grill, the drinks, the drum (the drum?).
While we waited for the food to cook, several of the students led in singing
popular songs while using the simple rhythm of a drum (
video - 5 sec.). It was something we had seen many times at wedding
celebrations, but this was something unique to see it in this younger generation.
Elizabeth began to get quite a following as she photographed the local
creepy crawlies. Many students began to run around and find bugs
for her to take pictures of, including colorful spiders, something called
"Moses' stick," and a scorpion, which they crushed with zeal. (Take a visit
to the newly redesigned and updated
Zababdeh
Nature Page to see these, spring
flowers, great picts from our trip to Gaza, and more!) After several hours
of releasing pent up energy on the beautiful hills around Zababdeh, we
all headed back into town. That evening, as Marthame got his haircut,
the sound of shooting erupted (audio
- 5 sec.). It went on for quite some time, back and forth.
But strangely, it seemed that the Palestinians shooting at the IDF camp
were using tracer bullets, too, which readily revealed their location.
(We have grown accustomed to seeing tracer bullets only used by the Israelis
shooting from the camp.) Not something we understood fully.
From our vantage point on the roof, we could see several flares go up from
the IDF camp (video - 7 sec.) to illuminate
the sky as day time to see what they were firing at. This has now
become all too routine, happening every other night with some regularity.
We still have not heard of anything too severe in the way of damages, except
for the one house that was hit a few months back. But one student
has written a particularly creative piece inspired by the night she and
her family had to flee their home because of warnings from the camp. |
  3/17/01:
After school, we were approached by some of the other Americans (connected
with the University) living in Zababdeh, asking about particular needs
of the people of the village. It seems that this issue is forcing
its way onto our laps and will be one that we will need to seek guidance
in addressing. But today was to be a day of travel, following Elizabeth's
adult English class. We have been hoping since we arrived that we
would be able to visit some of the other Arab countries around us.
One of the obstacles is the Israeli stamp in our passport. With the
exception of Jordan and Egypt, no Arab country will accept a passport (or
the person attached to it) that contains the Israeli stamp. As such,
it becomes necessary to receive a second passport from the Embassy in Amman.
Fortunately for us, issuing these is a routine practice. We drove
our car to the Sheikh Hussein bridge and spent what felt like an hour being
asked questions by the Israeli border guards. The place was completely
empty - the tourist trade has all but dried up. From the other side,
we caught a special taxi to Amman (one of the few in the parking lot) and
arrived just after dark. We are staying with friends from the Zababdeh
diaspora living in Jordan-- 60% of the population is Palestinian, but they
tend to enjoy a lesser status as Jordanian citizens. The city is
huge - about two million - and makes up almost half of Jordan's population.
The journey has us weary, and we have much to do tomorrow. |
   3/18/01:
Amman is an interesting mix between East and West. Clearly Arab and
clearly a monarchy (King Abdallah's pictures are everywhere), nonetheless
almost every street sign and storefront is bilingual - the years of British
influence have clearly left their mark. We picked up our passport
photos at the Safeway (18 different kinds of mayonaisse!) and headed to
the heavily-fortified American Embassy. Within minutes, our paperwork
was finished and we had but to return later in the afternoon to pick up
our new passports. In the meantime, we headed off sightseeing with our
host (who was so kind as to ferry us here and there). Our first stop
was the town of Madaba (pop. 60,000), one of the important Christian centers
of Jordan. Christians make up about 5% of the population of Jordan,
twice the Palestinian percentage. Madaba is currently 30% Christian,
and has been an important religious center since the early era of Christianity,
partly because of its connection to the ancient land of Moab. Several
ancient churches are here with important mosaics. The first was the
unearthed Church of the Apostles from the 6th century (now owned by the
Latin church) with exquisite mosaics of birds and youth
(video - 18 sec.) and John the Baptist.
It has been fairly well preserved. Then we saw the Orthodox church
of St. George with its historically important map mosaic of the Holy Land
(video - 22 sec.). From this ancient
map, scholars have been 
able to locate the likely historical site of Jesus' baptism by John.
We met with the priest, Archimandrite Inno Kentios, who was born in Greece
but has been here for forty years. He showed us around to their new
school and hostel, and chuckled that he was grateful that we were Protestants
(since our ancestors protested against Rome, not Byzantium). Our
last pilgrimage site was Mt. Nebo, from which Moses viewed the promised
land before he died. There, too, is an ancient church, again with
remarkable mosaics, now maintained by the Franciscans. It is quite
the view across the Jordan Valley into places like Jericho. Our lunch
was the fulfillment of Amman's mix of east and west, as we ate Popeye's
chicken (here called "Bobeye's") and drank Pepsi ("Bebsi") while we also
dined on homemade "malfouf" (meaning "rolled", cabbage leaves with meat
and rice). After picking up our new passports, we made one final
stop in Amman, visiting the ancient Roman theater briefly before coming
home to relax in front of the TV and admire anatomically-correct teeth
carved out of soap. |
   3/19/01:
This morning we met the head of the Bible Society of Jordan, snugly located
in one of Amman's beautiful neighborhoods. The purpose of the Society
is to support Christian communities in Amman by giving them Bible-related
resources - including Bibles published in many different languages (including
Arabic, English, Hebrew, Russian, Armenian, Korean, Sri Lankan, etc.).
After a wonderful lunch of Middle Eastern food, we began the long journey
back to Zababdeh. We climbed into a 1974 mint condition Mercedes
(complete with a manual gear shift where an automatic one normally resides)
and wound our way through the hills. We had to change taxis once
we got out of the hills because of the wear and tear on the brakes, so
we completed our trinity of taxi drivers - Ibraheem (Abraham), Mussa (Moses),
and Issa (Jesus)--all Muslims. Mussa wanted to know if Marthame was
a "48" (meaning a Palestinian with Israeli citizenship). The border
crossing going the other way was much less painful, except that Marthame
had left the car lights on over the weekend. After a jump from a
friendly Israeli motorist, we began the drive back to Zababdeh. We
noted the Israeli use of sprinklers (at 3:30 in the afternoon, in hot weather).
We also noticed that Zababdeh's new Lily Internet Cafe has opened!
The place was packed for the price of $1.25/hour. How he had managed
to open the cafe in the middle of an economic freeze is a testament to
his initiative. |
    3/21/01:
Happy Mothers' Day! (?) Here, the event comes in March, not in May
like in Europe and the States. It is a big event in the life of Zababdeh
and is celebrated quite widely. First, families visit the graves
of their departed loved ones to place flowers on the headstones.
Then in the afternoon, there is a special Mass, following which is a big
celebration in the school hall upstairs. A number of families turn
out for this event, Christian and Muslim, including many parents of kids
in the school who come from nearby villages to attend. The event seemed
big to us, but apparently this year it was much smaller than usual, due
to the situation. Flowers are given out, and students dance traditional
dances (video - 13 sec.). This year,
one of the teachers - who had just returned from Hajj, the Muslim pilgrimage
to Mecca, read some selections from her poetry. Marthame also
accompanied some of the eighth grade French students as they sang a song
(fortunately Marthame is bilingual in guitar). The event was not
without its sobering moment, though, as moments were taken to remember
the mothers who had lost children during the Intifada. Overall,
it was a joyous occasion, a moment which is often needed these days. |
  3/23/01:
It has been a while since we've been able to take a walk in the fields,
but the land all around is becoming greener by the day! The flowers
are out in bloom, the sun is shining. Now is peak beauty time in
Palestine, and beautiful it is. (Visit the Nature
Page!) Particularly striking are the ubiquitous purple thistles.
We joined with our neighbors for a little cookout on their balcony as we
enjoyed the weather. Noting that it was Friday, and we were grilling
meat, we chatted with them about Lent and fasting. We find Lent a powerful
opportunity to take on spiritual disciplines, to prepare for Easter, and
to deepen our relationship with God. That said, we don't follow prescribed
rules about what those disciplines may be. However, most of the Christians
here, being Orthodox or Catholic, fast from meat and dairy products either
for the entire forty days (except Sunday) or only on Wednesdays and Fridays. |
   3/25/01:
Sunday is here, the fourth Sunday of Lent, and we had an invitation to
worship in the evening with friends in their church in Shefa'amer (north
of Nazareth). Following morning Mass, we headed up by way of Nazareth
- we had to make a delivery to one of the sisters in the convent there.
Even though it's only half an hour's drive from Zababdeh, no one here can
make the trip these days because of the closures (many can't even get to
Ramallah), so several times we have found ourselves couriers for various
things, including medicine and birthday presents. Our hosts in Shefa'amer,
the Anglican priest of St. Paul's
and his family, took us to the Sea of Galilee as a nice surprise.
Near Tiberias (after the October anti-Arab rioting in that village, going
there with Palestinians is not advised), we had lunch at a kibbutz's restaurant
overlooking the Sea and dined on St. Peter's fish (there's something ironic
about eating meat on Friday and fish on Sunday). We then went back
to St. Paul's for their  6:30
PM evening prayer service. A group from Michigan had been there all
week putting on programs for children and visiting refugee camps and closed
villages on the West Bank. They had planned several pieces of liturgy for
the evening service at St. Paul's, including songs and two dramatic pieces.
One of the dramas involved the children (video
- 29 sec.). A fellow American Presbyterian who runs a ministry in
Nazareth called The Harbour was the preacher, the first English sermon
we've heard in a while (quite refreshing). We went back with the
Michigan group to their hotel for a late night supper and talked about
their - and our - experiences. We crashed for the night in The Harbour. |
  3/26/01:
After the treat of going to Shefa'amer yesterday, we had yet to accomplish
a couple of simple tasks: 1) Meeting with folks from Hope
International as they begin to explore their ministries in this area;
2) Transfering the paperwork on the car into our name. For both,
we needed to go to Jerusalem, but first Marthame had to take Elizabeth
back to Zababdeh for classes. Numerous transport trucks were entering
the checkpoint to the West Bank empty. We had heard rumors that the
camp at the edge of Zababdeh was going to be abandoned soon, but that's
a rumor that's been around at least seven years to no effect. More
likely is that there is a changing of the guard after a three month stint,
which means that the soldiers who now know our car and our faces will be
leaving and will be replaced with new folks. The roadblocks
are still in place, with a new unofficial checkpoint as an IDF jeep waits
halfway between Zababdeh and the border to turn cars around. There
are also new electric lights going up along the settlers' bypass road,
as if to further emphasize the difference between Israelis and Palestinians
living on the West Bank. Marthame's route took him down the Jordan
Valley, which is where the brakes went out  on
the Citroen. Nevertheless, he managed to drive all the way to Jerusalem
(not many advantageous places to stop before then, and no AAA), and called
a very good friend, who came to his rescue. Our friend from Hope
International was waiting for Marthame in the Old City, a five minute walk
from where the car was. Marthame called him to tell him to come talk
there, rather than in the quiet cafe they were anticipating. As he
was giving directions, the battery on the phone died! Nevertheless,
our friend was resourceful and found his way. Marthame spent the
rest of the day recovering from the anxiety of the trip. News came
today about the ten-month old baby killed in Hebron. This is the
kind of stuff that knocks the wind out of your sails as you think about
the mounting suffering, so naturally we write
about it. Even so, the intensity makes us need a few moments of escapism,
which Marthame found by watching a rebroadcast of the Oscars. |
  3/27/01:
Task number 2 (the transfer of paperwork) was slated for this morning.
As Marthame prepared to rendezvous with the relevant parties, word came
of a bomb going off in the Talpiot neighborhood (which is where we were
headed). An American and three Arabs is not good company after such
things, so Marthame headed back to Zababdeh by way of Tel Aviv rather than
the Jordan Valley. Once inside the West Bank, you immediately notice
the instantly-recognizable settlements (red roofs, perfect rows, on the
hilltop) towering over the Arab villages nearby (video
- 9 sec.). Along the way, the Citroen began to live up to its translation
(i.e. "lemon") as the carburetor began acting up. In Zababdeh, another
trip to the mechanic took car of that. While Marthame watched the
mechanic at work, two Palestinian soldiers pulled up and asked the mechanic
questions about him: "Is he Jewish? A settler? An Israeli?"
They had noted the yellow plates and the not-quite-Arab look he was sporting,
and inquired. They were quite friendly and joked with Marthame afterwards. |
  3/29/01:
Last night we met with Abuna Tomie, the priest of St. George's Greek Orthodox
Church in Zababdeh. He told us about the project on which he has
begun working, which is to rebuild the church in its old location.
In 1974, the church was built without plans or an architect. The
foundations shifted in the sands over time, and until in 1986 it was unusable.
Abuna Tomie became priest in 1990, and the smaller church was built on
the ancient site with funds collected from families in Zababdeh.
This space is far too cramped for special services (feasts, weddings, etc.),
and so they are back to working on the old spot (with an architect this
time). He took us to see the work (video
- 13 sec.), which began again about ten days ago. The total cost
of the project is around $50,000, and there is no help coming from the
Patriarchate in Jerusalem. Consequently, they do work little by little,
as money is available. The project gives work to people in Zababdeh, something
desperately needed in times like these. It's a good project, one
that is sorely needed, and offers more hope to us. As people lament
about the vanishing Christian population (which is true), there remain
these signs that people are planning for a future. |
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3/30/01: Marthame's family is here! We drove the Citroen (no excitement this time) down to Tel Aviv to do a little mall shopping (have you ever been asked for your passport to enter a mall before?) and get our taste of the global monoculture before heading to Ben Gurion. Their flight was an hour late, which meant we'd be getting into Zababdeh a little after dark - not ideal, but usually not a problem (sense the foreshadowing?). When we got to the checkpoint, there was a problem. A few minutes ago, apparently, a Palestinian vehicle had driven from Jenin and shot at an IDF jeep before fleeing back into Jenin. Welcome to Palestine! After twenty minutes, we were allowed to pass, which happened without incident. We sat down to a late-night, exhaustion-filled dinner. The nighttime shootings didn't disappoint, either. Welcome to Zababdeh! |
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