September 5, 2003 — Mudeif Productions

The weather has turned; this morning the sky was full of clouds and the air seemed to carry a hint of mist. We're all ready for a break in the heat. Our guests had a small breakfast of tea, bread and za'atar (thyme and sesame spice mix) - anything heavier might add to car sickness on the long bumpy ride to Nablus. With our best wishes for safe travel, they caught a taxi south.

Soon Fr. Aktham called with a proposal for Marthame. A new French teacher is arriving today, so Marthame and Deacon Imad went to pick her up from Ben Gurion airport. Getting there was not a problem - we were stopped at many checkpoints, and Deacon Imad's passport was always scrutinized much more than Marthame's - par for the Arab course. The same was true once we reached the airport. A quick glance at the American passport was followed by a careful scrubbing of the Jordanian one - despite the clergy collar.

Veronique arrived, and we began the trip back. We breezed through all of the checkpoints until we reached Hamra. "No way. You are foreigners."

"But we came from here a few hours ago."

"We weren't here. You can't enter."

"But we live there. We've been living there for three years. My wife is there!"

"Hold on. I'll talk to the Captain." An hour later, "Nope. Sorry."

Finally, after two and a half hours of the most surreal experience, we were allowed to pass.

This event will no doubt end up in a story we write, because there's far more than can be summarized here - a soldier who learned English from watching Monty Python; joking with one of the soldiers about his girlfriend; being scolded and threatened by another for talking to Palestinians who passed through the checkpoint; watching the sun go down and wishing each other "Shabbat Shalom"; two kind soldiers, two that cannot be described kindly. Surreal.

In the evening, after some time to clean up and rest, we joined Fr. Aktham, Deacon Imad, and Veronique at a family's home for a farewell party. Their son will go to France in a few days, and so we joined the flock of young men to eat, drink, and wish him well.