November 20, 2002

Our visa situation, and the end of the strike at the Ministry of Interior, have necessitated a trip down to Jerusalem. It's the first time either of us has left the village, let alone the West Bank, in almost two weeks. We went after school with Deacon Homam (making his way to an ordination in Beit Jala) with a man from Zababdeh who works with a Bethlehem-area NGO. He offered us a lift in his jeep, and despite his Palestinian license plates, we were able to pass through the three checkpoints along the way fairly easily - no doubt three international passports helped with that.

We were dropped off in Abu Dis, a Arab Jerusalem suburb, on the other side of a large concrete wall blocking the street. It wasn't clear which way we should cross, so Marthame asked some soldiers in their elevated military watchtower/cubicle. After a few questions, they let us pass at their station, instead of making us walk down the road to the regular pedestrian checkpoint. They sent us on our way joking that "Chicago is more dangerous that Israel."

We arrived in Jerusalem, and at our hotel, courtesy of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem (who writes all the official paperwork necessary for us to get our visas), and then went off to the Hospital for a check-up for Elizabeth. She's been having headaches, and given her medical history, it was worth it to have them checked out. She'll be spending a few extra days here for tests, and will be coming back in a couple of weeks for more, so prayers are most welcome.

Knights and Ladies of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem.

An old school knight.

Back at our hotel, the "Knights' Palace," we met some actual Knights and Ladies of the Holy Sepulchre, internationals who generously support the indigenous Christian community through the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem. Unfortunately, they take their name from the Crusaders who came to "liberate" the "Holy Land," and in so doing also sacked and slaughtered Jews, Muslims, and local Christians. The Crusades are alive in the popular memory here, and also are deep-seated in the Western consciousness as something to be commended (selfless people are called "crusaders," our most precious social causes are our "crusades"). Somehow we can decry “jihad” without despising “crusade”. At any rate, we had a nice short visit with the Lords and Ladies, telling them about our work, in particular our partnership with the Roman Catholic parish in Zababdeh.

Then we met some friends for dinner. One is a freelance journalist, writing a piece about local Christians - in time for the Christmas season attention the region receives. We're hoping that she'll be able to come up to Zababdeh as well in order to see and meet with folks here. Our day will begin early tomorrow, so an early night would have been wise - however, we can talk about the Christian population here for quite a while.