January 28, 2003

Today is the parliamentary election in Israel. Forget about our students from Jenin coming. Nablus and Jenin are under full curfew. The results of the election were not surprising, but not heartening, either. The Palestinians, who are affected just as much as the Israelis by the choice made today, have no say in it whatsoever. Israeli soldiers killed four Palestinians in Jenin today. One of them was described as a "combatant." The other three, however...Today, Israelis chose to maintain the status quo. But is that really a status quo either Israelis or Palestinians can live with? Sharon has not delivered the security he promised to Israelis - they've never been more insecure. Nor has he delivered any desire to negotiate with Palestinians at any level.

A scene from the Latin Church Christmas pageant.

Today was day two of filming the Christmas pageant. In the evening, Marthame worked with Fr. Aktham, Deacon Homam, and the school's computer teacher to try and ready ourselves for an upcoming video conference. The plan is to build off of some international student and teacher meetings which included Palestinians and Israelis. The problem here is technology. The best internet connection is a telephone, and these days the Palestinian companies can't be at their technological best, operating with duct tape and bailing wire. Today was not a good beginning: three different computers were sidelined in the process - not because of anything done wrongly, but because the gremlins were not on our side. We've got a month to try and rectify the situation...Meanwhile, the video conference organizers are saying, "It's easy! As long as you have a broadband internet connection, you'll be OK." Thanks.