Our Jenin students were able to arrive today. Thank God for small miracles.

"Blessed are the peacemakers," but where are they?

The 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.

The worry is thick in the air these days.

Today was symbolic of our ecumenical work here.

Our evening visits were bookended by tanks rolling through town. It's become so ordinary it's hardly worth mentioning.

"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?"

Today is the Eastern celebration of Epiphany, the feast of the divine appearance which celebrates Christ's baptism by John.

One 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.

The 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.

Today, they began by discussing rights: freedoms of association, expression, religion, conscience, movement (everyone laughed at that), and human rights.

It 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.

A 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.

The 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?"

Officially, 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.

Now, they are on tourist visas, some of them as short as two weeks. Some have met with the US Embassy to shove the process along - Tel Aviv seems to be a clueless world away, with US government travel restrictions on their employees preventing them from even approaching the West Bank and getting a sense of what's happening on the ground.

A few days into the incursion, she and her sister ventured out so she could lend a hand with the medical crisis. There was no gunfire at the time, no airplanes overhead, no curfew in effect. Stepping outside their door, they were gunned down by Israeli soldiers. For twenty minutes they cried out, but no ambulance came to help them. When they did reach the hospital, her sister died. She remains severely wounded.

The young men in town began gathering stones to throw - this has become a pastime here: the tanks pass through, the youth throw stones, the tanks keep on going. Every now and then, reports come out of a soldier who shot a stone-thrower or simply fired at random killing someone.

Refreshed after a long journey, the group then went to Zababdeh where they were met by students and hosts from the Arab-American University of Jenin (AAUJ), Christian and Muslim alike, welcoming them with handmade cards reading "Welcome to Peace Land."

Last night it was tanks. Today, it was a helicopter, circling Zababdeh repeatedly. They are a menacing sight, and indicate that something may be afoot.

Planning here can be a practice in the absurd.

There hasn't been the kind of excitement we had prior to our departure, but just about every night the roads around town are closed.

Last year, priests were spared the hassle while seminarians waited a little longer for their legal status to come through. Now, it has been a six-month process for some. Many are in limbo, having filed their papers months ago with the Israeli Ministry of Interior but still have had no success. The Patriarch has filed official complaints, as has the Vatican, all to no avail.

Israel, Jordan, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia all boast coastline on this stretch, and all are within range of the naked eye.

The water was much calmer today, though, hardly a ripple across the surface. Underneath, the Red Sea teemed with life.