April 8, 2001 — Mudeif Productions

*Fr. Louis, Fr. Hossam, and Marthame bless the palms.*

Happy Palm Sunday! The Catholics and Anglicans joined together at 8:30 for their procession around the village. After some brief liturgy in front of the Latin Church, including the blessing of the branches, we began our own "Hosanna" procession around the village. When we reached the Anglican church, their community split off from the parade to continue their service.

*A young friend with palm branch and cigarette.*

We headed back to the Latin Church, where we knocked at the church doors three times before they were opened by the waiting congregation inside. The church was so crowded that Marthame's folks ended up sitting on the steps of the school outside, objects of a great deal of curiosity, as they admired the Rosary Sisters' control of the youth.

Usually, Palm Sunday isn't a very big event within the village, as most of the Christian communities in Palestine head down to Jerusalem for the large procession from Bethpage into the Old City. This year, though, travel was impossible. The Israelis said that, rather than the usual blanket permission to Christians for Palm Sunday, each person would have to apply individually for the benefit of worshipping together.

*The procession begins to head down the Mount of Olives.*

Marthame and his family were able to travel down, after some snide remarks from the Israeli soldiers at the checkpoint (a first at this particular checkpoint), arriving at the Mount of Olives just in time for the procession. Catholics and Protestants (again, no Orthodox) joined together for the parade. Because of the travel restrictions, internationals far outnumbered the locals, and they came from an impressive array of countries. Even so, some of our Zababdeh friends managed to make the journey, though they were the ones who had been living in or near Jerusalem already.

*A non-comforting military presence for our Palm Sunday procession into the Old City.*

As we entered St. Stephen's Gate, we noticed the Israeli soldiers poised on the top of the gate. This has been the scene of many clashes over the past months between Palestinian youth and Israeli soldiers and police. Their presence was to be one of protection, but we couldn't help but feel more threatened by the presence of M-16s than we might have by their absence.

We made our way through the Old City to our hotel at Jaffa Gate, where we discovered that two youth from Zababdeh are working! Following the post-Christmas slump, they had returned to pick up some money from the slightly-revived Easter season.