July 1, 2002

Back in Bethlehem (from Jordan)

[Bethlehem, West Bank] I'm back in Bethlehem and to be honest, I'm not incredibly thrilled to be here. Just arrived from Jordan and Viola Raheb's wedding. The wedding was really nice. Viola married Marwan, a professional musician. Marwan turned out to be a real nice guy. I think they are going to have a wonderful life together -- especially if their families can meet each other in their homeland someday. There was a power-team of clergy there to officiate -- bishops, priests, reverends, ministers and others. Rev. Mitri Raheb (whose claim to fame is being Viola's brother - or so she says) gave a talk. His speech was immediately followed by words from the bishop. Everyone told me that both speakers gave beautiful messages.

It was great to be out of Bethlehem for a while. JZ and I roomed together. And we enjoyed doing things in Amman that we can't do in Bethlehem now -- swim twice a day, see a movie, eat out, experience the World Cup finals (the place went nuts -- although we were cheering for Germany), watch music TV (yes), meet cool new friends from Haifa, Beirut, and Galilee, sleep uninterrupted by tanks, Arabic wedding-dance, and lots more. JZ did say he felt a bit strange by the freedom of being able to do anything we wanted any time we wanted. We didn't have to sit inside all day. And of course we enjoyed all this freedom while a million Palestinians, including some invited to the wedding, had to sit under a virtual house arrest in the West Bank the entire time

And so I'm back here sitting under curfew in Bethlehem now. Sure, I know it sounds great, but it's not much fun. An Israeli APC just stopped beneath my corner window. A tank followed it. Suddenly the back door of the APC slowly lowered and soldiers went running from it, rifles drawn. They surrounded my house corner and ran up and down the two streets crouching and aiming. I thought they were going to come into my place, so as my good neighbor Ed suggests, I tidied up a bit. But they must have been after one of my other neighbors, because they didn't come in. They ran around a while, then they got back into the APC and disappeared.

I don't know if any terrorists live on my street, but the folks have been pretty friendly to me. Of course I have tried to be friendly too. I always say "hello", and I never restrict anyone's freedom. Mrs. Ritchie taught me in first grade that when I am trying to be a good friend and neighbor that I should never be restrictive or oppressive. I think that's a pretty good rule.

When curfew lifted and JZ and I made a break for the Jordanian border, we encountered an Israeli military camp outside Bethlehem.

Military Camp Photos at the Bethlehem Checkpoint

Amman has a lot of historic ruins downtown.

Photos from Amman, Jordan

Bethlehem has a lot of Israeli soldiers in its streets.

Photos of soldiers on my street

Finally, I got quite a few emails from folks wondering if I was dead, since my website was not being updated. As a reminder, check out my newsgroup.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BobsMgroup

When I can't update my website, I can still post messages there.