April 16, 2002

Food Delivery

[East Jerusalem, Palestine] Yesterday I was part of a 19-vehicle convoy to take food into Bethlehem, Beit Sahour and Beit Jala. The program was organized and sponsored by folks from Catholic Relief Services, World Vision, Mennonite Central Committee, Caritas, and the Pontifical Mission for Palestine. 1,000 heavy packages of food were delivered in total to the three communities.

It was a great day for me. It was great because my path crossed with some special people. While Doug (who has helped me a lot to keep my sanity) drove our van with the rest of the convoy, I spotted Zoughbi and my good neighbor Ed heading for Beit Jala. I think this short break in the curfew must have been the only time they have been allowed out of the area. We gave each other a wave. Carol pleasantly surprised me in Bethlehem. Her comments that Palestinians would like to see a show of support from our government too made me smile. Then in Beit Sahour I got to see Ghassan, George, Wisam and Iyad. It really made me feel good. It's only been two weeks since I had seen them all, but it has been a very difficult time. So much has happened in the past two weeks...

Unloading the truck at Beit Jala

Everyone Helped, including Father Ra'ed and friends

The delivery line in Beit Sahour

While we were waiting at Tantur to get things moving for the day, we were offered a view of Bethlehem from the rooftop. There we heard quite a few loud booms and smoke from the Manger Square area. People speculated that it was tear gas, but a call from Bethlehem also indicated that it could have been cars in the community being exploded by the Israeli army.

Smoke near Manger Square

From Beit Jala to Bethlehem, we drove near the Bethlehem Bible College. A tank and an armored personnel carrier were passing in front of it. The streets did not appear to be too damaged near the areas we saw. I'm sure other parts of Bethlehem, Beit Jala and Beit Sahour and much worse than the bit we witnessed yesterday. (We were nowhere near the Church of the Nativity, Mitri Raheb's Christmas Lutheran Church Compound, or the old market area.)

An APC and tank rolling by the Bethlehem Bible College