March 8, 2001

Purim revelers in West Jerusalem with a sign saying, “It’s time to hang Arafat!!!”

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.