being happy over here doesn't belong to happiness; it's from the sickness of being bored of sadness
Read MoreThe electricity remains spotty in the village - mostly on, but periodic outages - so getting together in a place with reliable lights (and heat!) is a luxury.
Read MoreIt's exciting to be part of it all, but with the impending war, it seems like this area will fall silent for a while as far as the outside world is concerned.
Read MoreThis is truly worrying. Not only do we need electricity for such a big chunk of our work - internet, emails, etc., and not only do we, like everyone else, need electricity to keep a lot of food from spoiling, but our building is set-up so that an electric generator refills the water tanks on the roof. Once they empty, if there's no electricity, there's no water.
Read MoreElizabeth accompanied the tenth graders on their class picnic where they enjoyed the beautiful sunshine, singing and playing, and teaching each other the dance to the "Ketchup Song".
Read MoreOur Jenin students were able to arrive today. Thank God for small miracles.
Read More"Blessed are the peacemakers," but where are they?
Read MoreThe results of the election were not surprising, but not heartening, either. The Palestinians, who are affected just as much as the Israelis by the choice made today, have no say in it whatsoever.
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The worry is thick in the air these days.
Read MoreToday was symbolic of our ecumenical work here.
Read MoreOur evening visits were bookended by tanks rolling through town. It's become so ordinary it's hardly worth mentioning.
Read More"Instead, we should just go and wait. One day, two days, three days, eventually they'll let us through. What would they do if a few hundred of us just sat there and waited?"
Read MoreToday is the Eastern celebration of Epiphany, the feast of the divine appearance which celebrates Christ's baptism by John.
Read MoreOne visit we made was to the school's Islam teacher and her family, where we got to catch up on their news and to see their Christmas (yes, Christmas) presents - including a cat - and their Christmas (yes, Christmas) tree.
Read MoreThe teacher meetings continued today and will continue for another few days as a trainer leads a workshop in how to deal with violence: violence in the Occupation, violence in the society, in the village, in the home, and especially in the school.
Read MoreToday, they began by discussing rights: freedoms of association, expression, religion, conscience, movement (everyone laughed at that), and human rights.
Read MoreIt was announced that no Palestinian between the ages of 16 and 35 (except special humanitarian cases) is allowed to leave from the airports, ports, or land bridges. No Exit.
Read MoreA fifteen minute trip extended to an hour and a half, with four detours - a new personal best! This place can really grind you down to the raw emotions. Right now, it's a lot of hatred and anger.
Read MoreThe soldier manning the checkpoint became agitated at our forthrightness, grabbing his M-16 nervously. As he approached the car, he saw Marthame, stopped, and bowed. Marthame rolled down the window: "How's the surfing?"
Read MoreOfficially, no Palestinians are allowed to travel between cities or villages. And no Palestinians under the age of thirty-five are allowed to leave the West Bank - either for work in Israel (which is already down to a trickle) or to go into Jordan.
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