December 6, 2002

Today was a day of Old City errands. First, it was the Latins - dropping off supplies from Fr. Aktham for another priest and picking up supplies from the Patriarchate, Caritas, and the Franciscan Bookshop. Then it was the Melkite's turn, but no one from the Patriarchate was around to help. Finally, the Orthodox.

St. James Greek Orthodox Church, the parish congregation of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem

We stopped by St. James' Church, the elegantly-furnished Byzantine-era parish church of the Holy Sepulchre. Marthame had visited here with Fr. Thomas a few weeks ago, and had made some friends. They suggested one of the shops nearby. In the shops near the Church, there is a double-layer of business: the first, that for tourists, dealing in cheap Holy Land trinkets. Bargaining is par for the course, so the initial prices are inflated. The second layer is as a church resource center - icons, candles, devotional items for the local clergy. Prices are fixed and well-known by the locals. Marthame waited for a Columbian tour group to finish their business shopping in the store before picking up Fr. Thomas' supplies. There is almost a feeling of insider privilege that accompanies being part of the second layer. These errands we run seem so small, but given the situation, such small things are nearly impossible for those without international passports.

St. James Greek Orthodox Church, the Byzantine-era Jerusalem church

We stopped for lunch at a restaurant nearby, welcomed by the Palestinian co-owner with Canadian citizenship. Though originally from Jerusalem, he's been away long enough that he now has to enter the country on his foreign passport. And though he's part-owner in the restaurant, in a few days his visa expires and he's back "home" to Toronto, as much of a foreigner as we are as far as Israel is concerned.

We made our way towards Damascus Gate, daily prayers having finished and shops having opened for the post-'Eid shopping. People are wearing their new clothes, and young boys are wielding their new toy beebee pistols. Packages for the guns littered the ground with their warnings - in English - not to point them at people or animals, and that they are for ages 18 and up. The 6 year-olds and their older friends were oblivious to these warnings (as presumably were their parents), as they scuttled around the narrow streets playing Israelis and Palestinians, the local version of cops and robbers or, more accurately, cowboys and Indians. Especially in the current charged, violent atmosphere, walking around with a black pistol on the Friday following 'Eid il-Fitir seems, at best, ill-advised.

Hebrew signs calling for the mass expulsion of Palestinians

As we made our way back to our friends' home in Beit Hanina, we noticed the proliferation of Hebrew signs announcing that "Jordan is the Palestinian state" and suggesting the transfer of "250,000 Arabs" as the solution to peace. Many have been warning for some time of the danger of the proliferation of such ideas, and now they are clearly multiplying.We spent the evening playing games with our friends and basking in the glow of their digital satellite. "Thou shalt not covet..."