Nativity Church

December 10, 2001

Hebron Attack, Dheisheh Basketball

Back to a busy day at the Palestinian Center for Rapprochement (PCR). We are heavily involved in planning non-Christmas related activities for this month. I was working on my notes for both my English and Internet class when we received a call from the Christian Peacemaker Team (CPT) in Hebron. They told us that an Israeli helicopter had just fired a missile at a car and that several people had been killed. Our small staff at the center dropped everything and started informing people. In situations like this there are several things we often do -- send email, call media, send faxes, call pager numbers and update websites. I was asked to page about thirty international and Israeli reporters. News and calls filtered back to us. The two people killed were young boys, ages 3 and 13. At least seven people were wounded. Terrible. When will it end?

Later that night I attended a special basketball tournament at Dheisheh Refugee Camp in Bethlehem. Dheisheh Camp is sponsoring a series of events for the Ramadan season including quiz shows and sports tournaments for clubs in the Bethlehem area. Tonight I watched Beit Sahour edge Dheisheh 59-55. Great to see a little hoops action.

After the game I went over to a friend's home in Dheisheh. We drank tea, ate snacks, and talked about Islam, Christianity, and Communism. I'm learning new things all the time. I think it's impossible to live here and not learn something. People enjoy sitting and discussing. Since I had recently visited the Islamic site of Moses' Tomb, I asked what the Koran says about the death of Jesus. The guys told me that Jesus ascended into heaven and never died. Evidently the Koran is full of stories about Jesus performing miracles too. I should have asked if the Koran mentioned Jesus being born in Bethlehem. I believe I need to take a class on Islam.