May 13, 2002

Marthame was planning to head up to Jenin to take care of some errands while Elizabeth continued with her daily class - the pared back schedule has meant that she is no longer teaching the 11th graders, nor the 1st through 4th graders. While she misses most of them, the extra time (especially as we wrap things up and put together our summer travel itinerary) is quite welcome.

Today was Arafat's first day out of Ramallah in months, and he was planning to visit Bethlehem, Jenin, and Nablus in a borrowed Jordanian helicopter. Marthame, Abuna Aktham, Abuna To'mie, the Sheikh, and the village mayor headed up to the Jenin governate for the reception. Representatives of most of the surrounding villages were there, and we could see the Christian community well-represented from Jenin and Burqin as well.

Sheikh Fathi, Father Aktham, and Father To’mie representing Zababdeh’s religious communities.

President Arafat, flanked by security doing their best to control the crowd.

President Yasser Arafat speaking in Jenin.

When Arafat arrived, he was followed by a group of clapping and shouting and chanting shabbab (young men). In some ways it was reminiscent of Saddam Hussein's staged rallies, but for the most part it felt quite genuine. The soldiers and police, many of them now unarmed, had a difficult time controlling the crowds, and our view was soon blocked by a swirling, shoving mob - not unlike the scene at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre we encountered a few weeks ago. Two observations mingled, one being that Arafat still commands great celebrity, if not adoration from his people - such was the rush to greet him and shake his hand. The other is that his security forces can't even do crowd control - how can they clamp down on "terror"? He left in a rush, barely stopping at Jenin Camp, which brought him strong criticism. His popularity, which surged when he was locked down in Ramallah, is on uncertain footing.

As we visited with friends this evening, we could hear a tank on the move near the military camp. We never expected that we'd be so familiarized with its sound - nor that dababe (tank) would be one of the first words children learn.

We also got a chance to visit with one of our dear friends from the long-neglected Melkite (Greek Catholic) community of Zababdeh. He's hopefully on his way towards ordination, working with the Bishop of Haifa. His story of traveling in Israel the other day (even with proper permissions) was harrowing - two unmarked cars stopped his taxi, not long after he walked across the Jalame checkpoint, and pulled their weapons as they threw the doors open and demanded IDs. "They were very nervous," he said about the policemen. We hope the ordination process is worth the trouble.