September 23, 2002

We passed a (thankfully) quiet evening. Early on, some knucklehead nearby fired at a tank, which stopped in the road for a few minutes, but that soon passed. We joined with the Jenin kids in their morning commute. Standing in front of the house, we again heard a nearby tank, followed by the firing of a tank shell, machine gunfire, and smoke rising from the hills. The bus showed up and we headed off, towards the smoke (to pick up some of our kids). We were the only non-military traffic on the road, with a strictly-enforced curfew in effect until 7:00 (we left at 6:30), each intersection becoming a potential hazard. The bus peeked, out, saw no tanks or jeeps, and took the road. Meanwhile, the kids stood outside waiting for us to arrive and pick them up. At one point, we did see a tank on the road ahead of us, but it didn't seem to mind us. The kids are clearly unnerved by this new arrangement, but are persisting. Two days in Jenin is enough for us right now. In the evening, we visited with a friend from Zababdeh who works as a nurse at the French Hospital in Nazareth, Israel. Today was the third day he went to the checkpoint to enter Israel, only to get turned back. His papers are all in order, everything is legal, and sanctioned by the Israeli government. He's not breaking any rules, any laws, has no political affiliations, nothing. And yet he's turned back, and not given any reason as to why. Tomorrow he's going to try and go an illegal route. This is the daily stuff that makes no sense and also makes it so difficult to explain this place to people who have never been here (or even to those who have).