January 15, 2003

Israeli helicopter circling Zababdeh.

Yesterday's optimism soon faded. At around 6:00 this morning, we could hear helicopters constantly circling the valley where Zababdeh lies. We waited until we could see some activity at the school to make sure we hadn't missed a curfew announcement (we hadn't). The Tubas students arrived, Qabatia at 10:00 and Jenin not at all. School attendance is like a crap shoot. School adjourned at 12:00 today for teacher meetings.

The Palestinian Ministry of Education is doing seminars with teachers about school violence, and how to deal with it and students who are under so much stress these days. Today, they began by discussing rights: freedoms of association, expression, religion, conscience, movement (everyone laughed at that), and human rights. It is so heartening when we see parts of the Palestinian civil society still intact (or at least partially intact), still trying to build itself, in spite of everything.

Throughout the day, F-16s circled overhead, while at night, off in the hills, the grinding of tanks lulled us to sleep. Ah, the sounds of Zababdeh.

We learned that our latest update will be published in a British Christian magazine called The Tablet. Our first step across the Atlantic...