March, 2003
He waved his M-16 towards a concrete barricade. "Where are you from? The United States? Sh**." He then spat on the ground - not sure how to read that one.
An International Solidarity Movement volunteer had been killed, crushed by an Israeli bulldozer as she stood in front of a house in a Gaza refugee camp. The journalist was calling to see if we happened to know her - we didn't, but when Marthame repeated her name, Rachel Corrie, one of the group gasped. "I know her. I was standing with her in front of a bulldozer a couple of weeks ago."
The news from the States is dire and the drive towards war depressing. We haven't felt this helpless in a long time.
Her husband was coming with her father and brother from just outside the western side of town when an Israeli sniper shot him in the head.
What's amazing, though, is that Marthame is teaching Reformation history in a Catholic institution!
Marthame walked towards the other side, stepping in mud up to his ankles, turning his once black shoes to brown. In Jenin, the combination of destruction and excessive rains left rivers of ankle-high running down the middle of the street, perfect for cleaning Marthame's shoes. When Marthame arrived at the bank, someone noticed his shoes (people notice shoes here) and said, "Have you been four-wheeling?"