A day of resurrection surrounded by mortality...Happy Easter.
Read MoreThe Western churches, meanwhile, will be gathering soon to sit vigil by the tomb. In a land of such death, it only seems appropriate.
Read MoreAs Arafat's compound was under siege, word of another suicide bombing in Jerusalem came. It's really bad. Really bad. Good Friday indeed...
Read MoreAh, the bubbling cauldron of al-Quds...
Read MoreRemaining human can be difficult in the midst of all this.
Read MoreThe busses had a difficult time finding a road that was wide enough for them (winding through the middle of the village) and then, when they did, the rain made them muddy and impassible!
Read MoreMarthame headed into Jenin to take care of some business - the taxis were using yet another round-about road (even for here) - it turned out that the municipality of Qabatia is working on the road that we used to take. Since they can't get their hands on any asphalt (usually imported from Israel), they are using iron frames and pouring cement for the entire length of the road.
Read MoreWe could see flares being shot over the hill, which made us worry for our friends in Aqaba and Tubas.
Read MoreNews has come out recently that if cease-fire talks fail, Israel plans to hit the refugee camps again. What more can be done, other than ethnic-cleansing? The refugees have nowhere to flee, and even if they could, the spectre of 1948's "temporary" flight weighs on their minds. Fleeing is no longer an option. Staying and fighting is all that remains. These scars will stay a long time...
Read More
They finally reached the other side of the destruction and the waiting taxis, just under the shadow of the most surreal sight in the Northern West Bank - a restaurant in an old airplane under the shadow of a ferris wheel.
Read MoreThis youth leader is particularly interested in working with the Christian kids of the West Bank to deepen their faith to understand better what it means to be a Christian in a predominantly Muslim Palestinian society.
Read MoreSince the churches in Zababdeh celebrate Christmas on the Western calendar, Easter (and Lent as a result) is celebrated on the Eastern calendar.
Read MoreSuch things like that don't even register on people's radar screens anymore, let alone make the news. Nevertheless, they perpetuate and spread hopelessness.
Read MoreRoughly 25,000 people live in Jenin Camp, a third of the population of the city, all refugees and their descendants from the 1948 expulsion of Arabs from Israel proper. At first, they lived in tents, but then began to build irregular housing - their living conditions are reminiscent of the colonias along the Mexican-American border. Add to that the military activity of fifty to sixty tanks, air support, and who knows how many soldiers, and you begin to get a picture of what life is like now.
Read MoreWe did so not only to give each other a break and some support, but also to talk about what - if anything - more we could be doing to participate in peace-making and justice issues in our immediate area. Most people are writing a great deal now, but trying to find Western newspapers willing to publish a view "outside the mainstream" is much like beating your head against a wall.
Read MoreAt least the outcry from Israeli Holocaust survivors has been heard in response.
Read MoreCynicism is contagious.
Read MoreWe then headed off to the Beit al-'Azza (the house of mourning), in which families of the fifteen killed were receiving people. It was the third day after their deaths, as is traditional in Arab society for visitation and condolences. We drank our bitter coffee and left.
Read MoreMarthame headed to school and then off in the afternoon to play soccer. It was a good chance to get some of the pent-up emotional baggage of the last few days out.
Read MoreThere are worries that the Israeli army, hot on the heels of Sharon's frightening message of "hitting the Palestinians harder", is preparing to enter more and more Palestinian villages conducting house to house searches. People here are feeling worried, sad, angry, and hopeless.
Read More