March 27, 2001

The tell-tale red roofs of Israeli settlements in the West Bank.

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.

Our Zababdeh mechanic valiantly tries to mend our lemon of a car.

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.