August 14, 2001

Elizabeth went into Ramallah to meet the head of environmental programs for the Latin Patriarchate school system and talk all things environmental. Then she returned to Birzeit for class, but our teacher couldn't make it across the checkpoint (three days now). We wanted to leave early for our overnight in Zababdeh, but there was a student-led protest headed to Surda from Birzeit. We decided to wait for the chaos to clear.

The walk between Ramallah and Birzeit.

When we arrived at Surda, we were getting out of the taxi when a tear gas canister flew overhead. We jumped back in the car and rolled up the windows. The scene repeated itself, and we could see men and women covering their eyes, gagging, and vomiting. There seemed to be no purpose other than to move the taxis back from the checkpoint. We waited until it seemed quiet and crossed without a problem, made it to the car rental agency, picked up our car, and drove to Zababdeh. We took a different route than usual, having heard that Jenin had been invaded by Israeli tanks late last night. It was a wise choice, but it was still nerve-wracking to drive through parts of the West Bank - even the ones we know well.

We had to argue our way across a checkpoint, but arrived safely and in time for Abuna Louis' farewell party. The party had been cancelled, however, due to a death in the village yesterday. The mother of good friends of ours was killed in a car accident on the road to Jenin. We visited the family and paid our respects, consoling our friends and drinking bitter coffee.