August 30, 2001

Apparently the Israeli army evacuated Beit Jala this morning, much to everyone's relief. Elizabeth evacuated Nablus, leaving early enough to get back in time to teach her classes at the school. Marthame's new schedule this year means that he has no lessons on Thursdays, and so he stayed a little later in Nablus to take care of some unfinished business. First, he went to visit the Mother Theresa Missionaries of Charity convent, where we had visited upon first arriving in Palestine, to say hello. We also brought them some pictures from the Sisters in Baghdad, whom we visited in May during the Peace Conference. (We had a nice time with them in Baghdad and brought them some food and greetings from the Sisters in Nablus.) The sisters in Nablus were anxious to hear updates, as many of them have served together in other Middle Eastern locales. Right now, even with the situation here, it seems as though the situation in Baghdad is one of the more difficult ministries of the order right now.

Marthame also visited with Abuna Dominick, who told Marthame stories from the 1967 War, when he was priest of Zababdeh. When the Israeli soldiers captured the West Bank, they entered Zababdeh and brought all of the men of the village together at the Latin Church and lined them up against the wall to search them. They said if they found any weapon, even a razor blade, "that was it." They then took four men from the village with them down towards the Boys' School, and made them dig a hole then stand in it to see if it was deep enough. Then the soldiers told the men to go into the school. Inside they were told to bring out four dead Arab soldiers. The frightened men were relieved to see that they had dug the grave for these soldiers and not themselves. The people of Zababdeh, and across the West Bank and Gaza, did not know that the Israeli soldiers were under strict orders not to kill them. For them, the memories of 1948 and its massacres were still very fresh, and they were terrified. These actions, while they did not harm the people, clearly seemed meant to frighten and intimidate them.

The British Council library in Nablus.

Unfortunately, Marthame did not have very much time to visit with the sisters - they were working on getting one of the children in their care to the hospital in Tel Aviv, a near impossibility given the closures of roads and particularly of Nablus. Marthame then headed off to the British Council, which maintains a resource office nearby, and borrowed some resources for English language teaching, for possible activities of the English Club, and just for some plain old fun. He then headed over to the Old City of Nablus to meet up with our hosts and to visit their gold store. He had asked them to help him find a chain for a cross he got in Bethlehem, which they did. After some more political conversations, revolving around the American government again, they refused (despite superhuman efforts on Marthame's part) to let him pay. Now the meaning of humility is clear.

Fr. Hossam and Marthame compare shoe dust after their walk.

Donkeys to help people navigate the dirt road between closed off towns.

Marthame and Fr. Hossam then made the journey back to Zababdeh together, forgoing the donkeys you can hire to carry you or your bags across the destroyed road. It would've save some time for shoe cleaning, though...We then visited with some folks in the village, including one young man who wants to go to the States and wants our help. These requests are increasingly frequent, and a little sad, as many folks don't quite understand how the American system works, and that knowing an American isn't necessarily of any use. It's also depressing, as it shows that the violence and economic stagnation and hopelessness of the Occupation is continuing to drive people out of their homeland. In Zababdeh (and Beit Jala and Beit Sahour and Bethlehem), we see it threatening to eliminate the Christian presence here even faster than before.

We capped off an exhausting day by visiting Abuna Aktham, the new Latin priest, and talking to him about our vision for this place and our work here. It was a very good visit, and we are looking forward to working with him over the next few years.