March 17, 2002

Artwork from today’s lectionary: the calling of Matthew the tax collector.

Marthame joined Abuna Aktham in worship leadership this morning at the Latin Church of Visitation. The lectionary was the calling of the disciple Matthew from his work as a tax collector. Somehow fitting as we head into Lent to hear the message that even such scoundrels were welcome among Christ's inner-circle. Lent in Zababdeh is celebrated on the Eastern calendar (while Christmas is celebrated on the Western), which means its starts this week. We're planning to fast Eastern-style, which means basically living as vegans until Easter - that includes Sundays. But we've got a few days.

The front of a house in Jenin Camp, damaged to make way for Israeli jeeps in the narrow streets.

We headed up to Jenin today to visit a Christian family affiliated with the school whom we've visited previously. The situation was "normal," but tank activity on the Haifa road had people nervous in town. Our friends just finished the renovations on their house and were excited to show it off and stuff us full of food. They also took us back to Jenin Refugee Camp (not more than five minutes from their house) to see some of the scenes of destruction. Our visit a few days ago was wonderful, but we had little chance to see what actually happened. Walls were destroyed, parked cars were crushed under tank wheels, houses were full of bullet holes. The narrower streets were relatively pockmark-free, since the tanks were too wide.

The burned out hull of a car in Jenin Camp.

Roughly 25,000 people live in Jenin Camp, a third of the population of the city, all refugees and their descendants from the 1948 expulsion of Arabs from Israel proper. At first, they lived in tents, but then began to build irregular housing - their living conditions are reminiscent of the colonias along the Mexican-American border. Add to that the military activity of fifty to sixty tanks, air support, and who knows how many soldiers, and you begin to get a picture of what life is like now.

We saw Dr. Khalil's ambulance as well as the graves of six of the camp's dead - they were killed in the midst of the attack, but the Israeli army was in the middle of the cemetery. Their families brought them to a traffic circle on the outskirts of town and buried them (to obey Muslim burial prescriptions requiring burial the same day). Their makeshift graves are marked with cinder blocks.

We returned back to visit with our friends in Jenin and some of their family from Zababdeh only to find out that there had been two suicide attacks within Israel. Add that to the Palestinians killed in the last few days, and we have another potential collapse on our hands. Hopefully not, though, because people here can't take much more.

We also learned something on the theological front. Apparently, Orthodox Lent (or "Fast" as its referred to here) starts tomorrow. Too many dairy products in the fridge, so we've decided to begin our Orthodox fast with the Latin church (how's that for ecumenical?).

Youth leading music at Jenin’s Latin (Catholic) Church.

Children singing as the faithful line up for the eucharist at Jenin’s Catholic Church.

We headed off for church in the afternoon (since Sunday is a work day in largely-Muslim Jenin, morning worship is impossible for most) at the Latin Church - as we hit the road, it began to hail! Abuna Alfons, who used to be in Zababdeh, is the parish priest for the fifty or sixty parishioners (most of whom come to Sunday Mass) and is assisted by three Italian sisters from the order of St. Anne. They are also responsible for the Latin Church in Burqin. It was good to get a chance to worship with the community there, many of whom send their children to the school in Zababdeh.