August 11, 2003

It’s always a treat to re-visit our Birzeit neighbors from 2001.

The summer semester is winding down, with only this week to go, so we are trying to get the most out of the last few days. After class, we joined our friends and former neighbors for a delicious meal of maqlube ("upside-down") with chicken, potatoes, chickpeas, eggplant, and cauliflower (and of course rice). Afterwards, we relaxed and chatted about Zababdeh (she's from Zababdeh, the aunt of a number of our students), the summer heat, and the political situation. Elizabeth helped prepare grape leaves (picking off the stems) which later will be used to make waraq dawale (grape leaves stuffed usually with rice and meat).

Elizabeth lends a hand preparing the stuffed grape leaves.

We also watched the several Arab video stations proliferating. One had a video by a Dutch group called Outlandish - they've remade a popular Algerian song called, "Aicha" (pronounced aisha, but since the song was in French, it is spelled with ch), kind of a pleasant innocent love song. Two of the group's members are Muslims (from Morocco and Pakistan), and the images of women in the video are mostly Muslim, wearing the traditional headscarf, differently representing the titular "Aicha." One exception is the woman putting her child to bed - a large cross is plainly visible in the child's room. Somehow, it captures the Middle Eastern essence.

What remains of the Palestinian Presidential compound in Ramallah.

At six o'clock, we joined the rest of our fellow students at Arafat's compound, for our second attempt to see the President. And this time they were prepared for us. After we left our bags and cellphones below, and demonstrated that our cameras were cameras, we went upstairs in one of the only buildings that remains standing in the Presidential Compound.

After we were seated around a large round table, the President entered and shook (or kissed) our hands. He shared with us details of the history of the PLO and various peace initiatives, meetings, treaties that have come and gone over the years. He showed outrage at the destruction of Christian sites (the ancient church in Aboud and the statue of the Virgin Mary that was atop the Holy Family Hospital in Bethlehem). "This is terra santa," he asserted. When asked what he would like to tell Americans, he said, "We are not asking for the moon. We are asking for what has already been agreed."

President Arafat, holding up a photo of the damaged statue of the Virgin Mary in Bethlehem, shot by Israeli snipers.

The fact that a President has an hour and half to meet with a group of seventeen foreign students speaks volumes about the current state of affairs.