February 11, 2003 — Mudeif Productions

Kul 'am w-intum bi-kheir. Happy 'Eid. We were awoken at the time of the pre-dawn prayers by the sound of the faithful gathering at the mosque. For several hours, the slowly gathering chorus repeats the Muslim creed, "God is great; there is no God but God and Mohammed is his prophet" until everyone disperses for the marathon of family visits that will continue over the next few days.

We made our way towards Jerusalem and its empty Old City streets, not knowing what the Qalandia checkpoint might have in store for us. Given that it was holiday time, it was a definite possibility that the checkpoint would simply be closed. Hundreds of people were lining up to get through. We simply walked around where a soldier was turning Palestinians back - we were waved through with a scant check of our passports.

Once in Jerusalem, we ran errands - stopping by Patriarchates, buying books and vitamins, going to post offices that function - before stopping to visit with journalist friends outside the Old City. He's in northern Iraq waiting for the war to start. She's trying to decide what's the responsible thing to do with two small children. It makes life in Zababdeh seem easy by comparison.

We, and many people here are absolutely horrified by the seeming inevitability of war. Perhaps that's because we've got several tastes and glimpses of conflict and loss. Or because an attack on Iraq threatens chaos in the whole Middle East and promises an exponential increase in global anti-Americanism. Or because we met people in Baghdad and elsewhere in Iraq, were welcomed into their homes, and worshiped with them - it's hard to think about such people as "collateral damage."

*The Qalandia checkpoint between Jerusalem and Ramallah.*

On our way back to Ramallah, we saw three women standing at the Qalandia checkpoint observing the goings-on. They were three observers from Checkpoint Watch, an Israeli group which was concerned by all of the abuses reported at various checkpoints. They have stationed themselves at various checkpoints around Jerusalem. Checkpoints in the West Bank's interior, however, are currently too hard for them to get to, but it's a start, and a wonderful one at that. They commented that many Palestinians passing by simply say, "thank you," a reminder that there is hope for this place.

*Cute children are always a welcome distraction from the situation.*

Once in Ramallah, we made our way to the Al-Kasaba theater for a movie (a movie!). But having read the calendar wrong, the only thing on offer was Die Another Day, and somehow we didn't feel in a James Bond mood. Instead, we grabbed New York-style pizza (New York-style pizza!) at Angelo's and went to visit with friends in town. He's from Zababdeh, she's from Switzerland. Their children are multi-multi-lingual, the three year old dazzling us with a song in English about monkeys jumping on the bed. They've had enough of the situation here, and with one daughter starting school next year, they're off to Switzerland. This is a hard land to stay in.