March 14, 2002

Teacher and students on a picnic.

Marthame headed out in the morning with the 10th graders for their class picnic. As they were leaving the school, word came again about the movement of tanks near Jenin. Even though half a dozen of the 10th graders are from Jenin and beyond, we headed up anyway with cellphones in tow to keep an ear on things.

10th grade students on the picnic.

As they walked into the hills, Marthame heard an Apache helicopter overhead. "You know the difference between Apaches and F-16s because you're an American," one student told him.

"Nope - it's from living in Palestine," Marthame answered, much to their delight.

Sure enough, a half hour into the picnic, we got the call that we were (once again) closing school early and hustling kids back to Jenin. We both joined the busses, more to keep the students calm than to do anything concrete. One of Marthame's students remarked, "You'll see us on TV soon wearing plastic handcuffs". One student grinned as he made a "UN" sign to put at the front of the bus.

A makeshift UN sign to help the students get home.

We arrived to find everything closed in Jenin - except the bakery, which was packed - but traffic (though light) seemed to be coming and going with some regularity. No tanks on the roads, no closing off of Jenin Camp. Perhaps we acted hastily, but with the military attacks increasing all over the West Bank, it seems best to err on the side of caution.

The situation in Ramallah and Bethlehem just seems to be getting worse, including the shelling of a statue of Mary at a Bethlehem church and hospital. Palestinian doctors have been circulating desperate calls for help - the International Red Cross has suspended its operations in Ramallah after they were attacked by Israeli forces, and the hospital is down to a seven-hour supply of oxygen. It's an emergency situation operating without any emergency services functioning.

Only the bakery is open in Jenin.

We headed up to the University to try and put in some emotional distance for our own good. We joined with a few of the other ex-pats for food and an Irish movie whose only highlight was the Thin Lizzy-heavy soundtrack.