Surely a threat on an airplane, the box cutter didn't seem like much to worry about in a schoolgirl's bag. Marthame took it, assuming the Israeli soldiers would be less likely to bother an American than a Palestinian for possession of a box cutter.
Read MoreWatching people die is hideous - watching people die slowly is gut-wrenching. It would be too easy to say that those who favor war have never seen it, but it's certainly true to say that those who embrace it without nuance have never lived through it.
Read MoreIt was a Jenin weekend in a nutshell - a dynamiting of the neighbor's house, a little prayer, a few tanks, and some birthday cake.
Read MoreThey thought our phone bill had remained unpaid. We had paid it at the Zababdeh post office, but the paid invoice hadn't reached the central office. Six miles away is an impossible journey these days.
Read MoreIn the evening, with no telephone to provide us with distractions like the internet, we went out on the town. People visit here incessantly once the cool of the evening comes, something we are often reluctant to do because of the overwhelming feeling of work left undone. But we are never disappointed when we do.
Read MoreWe spoke with another friend in the States who commented on how "quiet" it is over here. Yes, cities under house arrest, unemployment, malnutrition, collective strangulation are a quiet death.
Read MoreThe Byzantine liturgy is other-worldly, and the chorus - who play a key role in said liturgy - was largely made up of folks from Zababdeh's congregation who know it inside and out.
Read MorePlanes buzzed overhead today all along the valley between Jenin and Tubas, flying very low - we could see four of them at once.
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As much of the chanted liturgy is taking place among the congregation, the priest is busy preparing the eucharist.
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One of the people the group visited with, who has a military background, talked about the battle here from that perspective. The military part of the Israeli action he had no problem with - cornering the resistance fighters into an area bounded by four main streets was good military strategy. It was after that, in his view, that the Israeli army broke all rules of combat, bulldozing and collapsing the area, denying emergency services and relief agencies into the area.
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