July 16, 2003

Juggling!

Marthame's level two teacher invited his students over to visit this evening. Four of us got to enjoy the homemade pizza, chocolate cake, and the requisite Arabic coffee. We also got the chance to visit with their kids. The youngest performed one of the latest Arabic pop songs for us. The oldest son did magic tricks and his latest feat - juggling!

Both Marthame's teacher and his wife are originally from the Nablus area. Both of their villages abut the large Israeli settlement of Ariel. They said that relations are not good, because much Palestinian land was confiscated to build the settlement and the settler roads that serve it.

Having heard quite a bit about Ariel, we later took a look at B'Tselem's 2002 report of settlements. Founded strategically in the heart of the West Bank in 1978 under the pretext of a military base, the settlement now has 15,900 residents, 40% of whom are from the former Soviet Union. Especially disturbing is that most of the settlement's sewage is released into a dry riverbed near the town of Salfit, often polluting their water pumping station. Road blocks and closures for the security and convenience of Ariel settlers makes travel to and between the villages (which surround it on all sides) extremely difficult. Our hosts are probably better off in Birzeit than in their family home.