June 11, 2003

Today Marthame worked from mid morning to late night, with few breaks, on the Municipality film project. Elizabeth spent part of the day helping, and part preparing for our summer plans.

Palestine (in Arabic) and Freedom mural in the middle of Zababdeh.

In the early evening we took a short break to meet and show around three new teachers at the Arab American University. Two (an American and a Brit-turned-Canadian) are here only for the intensive June-July summer program, while the other will stay on into the fall, when more teachers are due to arrive too. After showing them the grand sites of Zababdeh, Marthame took a break to grab dinner with them.

The news was looping the suicide bombing in Jerusalem - seventeen killed and scores injured confirmed so far. It looks like we're heading backwards. It's almost as though Hamas and Sharon are working together - as soon as there's a seeming lull, or a possible path to peace (no matter how flawed), the military strikes - assassinations, incursions, curfews, etc. - and then Hamas unleashes bloody vengeance. Or the other way around. Enough.

We shared a small meal of shwarma and hummus sandwiches with the new teachers and learned about all the interesting places they've taught/lived/travelled before. Quite a list - those choosing to come to Jenin area in the middle of an intifada are bound to be adventurous.