Today is Ash Wednesday as Lent begins.

The recent unrest has accelerated some departures, as lack of work and closures (as well as a failed peace process) are strangling everyone here.

The situation faced by Palestinians today far surpasses the conditions faced by Blacks in apartheid South Africa, in terms of the violence, randomness, ferocity, and sheer venom of the Israeli occupation.

We then headed down to central Ramallah for a solidarity rally, led by a Muslim sheikh, a Coptic bishop, and an Anglican priest.

We visited the rooms in the Red Crescent/Red Cross hospital which burned after being hit by Israeli shelling; we also saw other damaged targets, including homes, a minibus owned by a school for deaf children, and a nearby newspaper office.

People are celebrating in a much more muted way. There's music, but no dancing. People are still in a nation-wide mourning.