August 27, 2002

Given Israeli military closures, school attendance is never a given in Palestine.

The usual chaos continues. As does teacher training in Tubas. More kids from nearby villages arrived today, perhaps signalling a bit of hope. Marthame's religion classes began today. The tenth grade's numbers are boosted by three students returned from the Latin Seminary in Beit Jala - the situation in that village is currently so untenable that the Seminary is closed and all of the students have returned home to their villages for the year. They will re-evaluate at the end of the year, and hopefully re-open (but no one knows at this point). Temporarily, this means very bright kids will strengthen their classes by their presence.

We visited with a friend of ours and his family - he had spent part of the summer in the States visiting some of his family as well as looking for ways to emigrate. "We are not living here," is his constant - and not inaccurate - refrain. His family will be one of those on whom we will focus as we work on a film project, chronicling Christian life in the Northern West Bank. In this area, they have family connections to much of the remnant Christian community - Zababdeh, Tubas, Burqin - as well as significant parts of the Palestinian story - refugees, work in Israel, desire for emigration, the Palestinian diaspora.

The priests here are excited by the possibility of sharing the life of the Church in the northern West Bank more fully with the West. Father Aktham has given us his digital video camera on extended loan for the project, and we hope to interest a Stateside partner church or two in adopting the project.

As the American sabre rattles against Iraq, people here grow nervous. Reports have appeared in the Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz that Sharon will use an attack on Iraq to begin his not-so-secret project of "transfer" - the ethnic-cleansing of Palestinians from the West Bank. Blessed are the peacemakers...