June 10, 2003

Marthame arrived early from Ibillin, finding the same soldier from yesterday at the checkpoint. We were beginning to wonder, given the provocative assassination attempt yesterday. No doubt this'll have repercussions.

The soldier said, "How was Jerusalem?"

"Nazareth."

"Oh, yeah. Nazareth. You're going to Jenin?"

"No. Zababdeh."

"What are you doing there?"

"Working in the church."

"Are there a lot of Christians, or just you, your wife, and the other foreigners?"

"No - there's a lot."

By now, the policeman was interested. "How many Christians are there?"

"About 2000."

"And Muslims?"

"About 1000."

They seemed surprised, but interested. Marthame then began walking into Jalame. Along the way, a car coming from the other direction slowed down and stopped next to him. A little Israeli flag fluttered on the dash board. The woman driving asked in English, "Did the soldier let you in?"

"Yeah."

The blocked road to one of the two small Israeli settlements on the outskirts of Jenin.

She drove off in a storm - perhaps she thought Marthame was from the International Solidarity Movement (you don't often see clergy wearing a backpack around here). Perhaps she just didn't like the idea of any internationals living, helping, visiting the West Bank. One never knows...

When he got home, Elizabeth and he headed over to the Latin compound. Marthame continued his work on the Municipality film as Elizabeth helped the art teacher take down the graduation exhibit. It was quite a success, which is great since the kids worked very hard on these things.

As the morning passed, tawjihi students started to filter out of the school, having survived the second day of their exams. Marthame got home at about midnight, as planes buzzed overhead. They haven't flown this low or this fast (and thus this loud) in a while. It's hard to stomach.