April, 2001
Nablus has an incredible energy to it. It's the largest Arab city on the West Bank and hasn't become quite as cosmopolitan as Ramallah has. As a result, it has retained much of its Eastern charm, hospitality, mystery, and activity.
We caught up with some of the families who plied us with coffee and simple Arabic early on - good to reconnect.
Went for a picnic in the nearby hills with some contemporaries - late twenties, early thirties professionals who live and work in Zababdeh and Jenin, both Muslim and Christian.
Headed to Jenin today to run a few errands, get out of the village for a few hours, and check out the bootlegged software. The latter is as rampant here as the persistent Israeli roadblocks (neither, it turns out, complies with international law).
The strangest thing today - the sky all around became filled with dust, kind of a yellow fog, like a genuine Lubbock dust storm.
Today exams have begun for the Tawjihi - 12th grade students. First, they must do their exams for the school (now), and then they must study for the comprehensive government exams which will take place in June.
Before Oslo, the school was under Israeli control. Those must be the bizarre moments of Occupation, where one country is directing the schools - even down to the uniforms - of another people's schools. During that time, it was forbidden even to use the word Palestine, and all correspondence from the school had to be written in Hebrew.
The irony of Marthame's family traveling hither and yon is that they have far more freedom than people here do in their own homeland.
We then made our way back to Zababdeh by the by-roads and the dusty trails, avoiding roadblocks and bulldozed ways, taking a detour through the Jordan Valley at one point and through the desert non-roads at another point, following cars that seemed to know the way.
We took our time this morning leaving the comfort of bed, and then slowly made our way to the Protestant-owned Garden Tomb. Even though its authenticity (as the site of Christ's crucifixion, burial, and resurrection) is largely denied by scholars, somehow it seemed very fitting to us to bask there in the sunshine following Resurrection Sunday.
We returned to Zababdeh for "Sabt in-Nour" - Saturday of Light, the Easter vigil of Holy Saturday. The service began at 8:00 in darkness as the simple light of a candle entered the sanctuary.
The procession then headed to the village's Christian cemetery, where the cross was set for the night. Elizabeth noted the large number of people who gathered at family gravesides and weeped and mourned demonstratively over the departed.
We headed off to Bethlehem today, giving Marthame's family a chance to experience first-hand what life under occupation is like, as they crossed over a blockaded road to meet our waiting taxi.
Since we had given short shrift to the Holy Sepulchre yesterday, today we gave it the time it deserves.
We traveled the Via Dolorosa, visiting both the impressive churches along the way (like the Church of Flaggelation with its impressive ceiling artwork of the crown of thorns) and the small chapels that simply mark one of the Stations of the Cross.
We continued our rounds of the village, discovering that people are getting ready for Palm Sunday tomorrow (in Arabic, "'Eid ash-Sha’aniin" - literally, the festival of olive branches).
Since it's Friday, it gave us the chance to walk around the hills near the new Arab-American University of Jenin.
After Elizabeth's adult English classes, we left with Marthame’s family for a few days in the Galilee district.
