September 24, 2001

Word came early this morning that an Israeli settler was shot and killed in the Jordan Valley today - so much for a cease-fire. Taxi drivers from Zababdeh made shorter round-trips than usual, everything being closed to the South. Kids who are attending the seminary in Beit Jala who had come for the wedding last night - including the bride's brother - only got as far as Tubas.

After school today (and after the daily nap - usually an electricity-out-time-thing, but no electricity out today), we headed off to visit one of our favorite families in the village. We haven't been doing much visiting lately, but that sort of thing seems to decrease a bit to a manageable routine once you become familiar and more integrated into the life of the village. As we sat with their kids and had a little fun by looking with them at their English school books, we heard the familiar (but not recently) sounds of gunfire to and from the IDF camp - so much for a cease-fire. Light flares went up into the air, but the shooting soon stopped.

Dried flowers coming back to life?

On the way home, we were accosted by several kids from the village who insisted that we had to come and take a picture of something - perhaps a home hit in the shooting? We weren't sure, but we followed anyway. The mother explained that they had a miracle going in their house. On Palm Sunday, they had put some flowers up on the wall. They became dried over the course of five months, but recently had sprouted some new, green growth. "This is something holy - this is from our God." It was pretty wild, and we dutifully recorded the miracle. When lives are so out of control, things like that seem to offer meaning.

A raging fire at the end of the village.

We then heard the sound of airplanes overhead - we assumed they were heading towards Jenin as they often do, but they kept circling overhead. For about half an hour, they were clearly concentrating on our valley, the one in which Zababdeh - and not much else - rests. Kinda makes you uneasy. We then noticed a fire burning in the distance, a big fire. Since it was night, we couldn't be sure where the fire originated, but it looked like it was coming from the IDF camp, or the boys' school nearby, or perhaps the gas station (there was no sound of explosion, but the fire was pretty high). Our minds ranged, wondering what it could have been - ignited by one of the flares? Something the planes did? Unlikely.

We could also see an army jeep and an APC (armored personnel carrier) moving away from the camp. Strange things - I'm sure we'll get a full (and perhaps accurate) report tomorrow.