April 7, 2001

This morning we received a call from a friend in Beit Jala, telling us she had heard that Zababdeh had been hit by Israeli tank fire the night before. We chalked it up to the Arabic telephone, since we had only heard a little shooting last night, nothing out of the ordinary. But when people in Beit Jala are worried about your well-being, that's saying something.

A family prepares their palm branches for tomorrow’s procession.

Marthame’s mom makes a new friend.

We continued our rounds of the village, discovering that people are getting ready for Palm Sunday tomorrow (in Arabic, "'Eid ash-Sha’aniin" - literally, the festival of olive branches). Their palm branches are folded in incredible patterns, made to support flower displays and the like.