December 12, 2002

In Jerusalem, Elizabeth had good news: all her medical tests at Hadassah were fine, so no worries. Thank God. Today she slept in a bit and chatted with her friends' nanny. From the Philippines, she and her husband have been in Israel for eight years. They are now here illegally, as there is a limitation for many foreign workers on how long they can stay, in spite of gainful employment. So even though they came legally and worked for years legally, Israel will not renew their work visa. They stay, however, because, she said, her life is here now, and her kids' lives are here. Their standard of living now is much higher than it would be back in the Philippines. And so they stay, hoping not to be caught and deported. She said she was frustrated because an amnesty was announced for foreign workers as herself, but then nothing was done about it. Our guess is that the limitation on visas is designed to stop people just like this nanny and her family from staying permanently in Israel because this constitutes a threat to the Jewish nature of the state. Guest workers are OK, but only so long as they don't threaten to further dilute the racial/religious purity of the nation.

Again we see the difficulty of creating and maintaining a state which is a democracy and exclusively (or mostly) Jewish. Can a state have equal rights for all when one group (a race, religion or ethnicity) is explicitly given priority? The nanny also shared how nervous she is, since she has to take two busses to get to work and two to get home each day. Fear permeates this city.

After a leisurely morning, Elizabeth headed out to Sabeel, for their monthly worship and lunch gathering. For the homily, Canon Ateek shared some thoughts about the "Second Coming," and how Advent is a season not only for preparing ourselves for the incarnation, but also for the time when Christ comes again. We all discussed ways to prepare, understandings of the "Second Coming" and how these very directly relate to this land. One person said they'd been told by an American Christian that working for reconciliation in Israel and Palestine is sinful, because it impedes God's progress toward Armageddon. Another said he's read about Americans who'd been deported from Israel because they were inciting conflicts between Jews and Arabs, in the hopes of hastening the "Second Coming."

After worship and lunch, Elizabeth headed back to Zababdeh with Sue and Carl Johnson, two friends whom we'd met in Lebanon and Syria. We were very excited when they said they had a few extra days in their schedule and wanted to visit us. We haven't had visitors in a long time. So Elizabeth, Sue, and Carl made their way to Qalandia and found a mini-bus going to Jenin. The trip had many stops and checkpoints, all fourteen of us having to exit the car and be checked, men holding up their shirts, handing over their IDs, being called over for questioning. The usual. We arrived in Zababdeh safe and sound, nearly four hours after leaving.

Working on the Christmas Pageant in the Latin Church.

Marthame, meanwhile, went to meet with the shabibi (youth group) at the Latin Church to let them know about the American group which is coming in January. We are trying to put together a group of Christian and Muslim youth to work with them. Following the meeting, there was a rehearsal for the Christmas pageant which Fr. Aktham wrote - the Christmas story set in modern Palestinian culture. It's quite a story, with Fr. Aktham's touches of humor sprinkled throughout.