October 24, 2001

We met up with friends from the Arab-American University of Jenin who had been in Jerusalem for a meeting. We bummed a ride with them back to Zababdeh. We headed along the Jordan Valley road and then back around through the checkpoint at Jalame. A good two dozen soldiers were gathered there, but the only check we got was a soldier who bid us "Boker Tov" (good morning) and then waved us on.

We arrived at school to discover that Marthame's face had appeared in the Al-Jazeera (Arabic news) coverage of the Bethlehem demonstration. Every one, teachers and students alike, had seen it. They were surprised to know we had gone (we hadn't had time to tell many people), and even more surprised to discover we had already come back.

Marthame headed into Jenin again today, this time to work with a printer there on new letterhead for the school. He arrived to discover that they were using Macintosh computers - even here they have a corner on the graphics' market!

Students march through the streets of Zababdeh.

As school let out, we were met with a demonstration led by University students through the streets of Zababdeh - one of the people killed in Tulkarem today had two cousins who are students here. No matter how quiet it may be, we're never far away...