[2008] Figs

[2008] Figs

[2008] Map of the West Bank

[2008] Map of the West Bank

8/26/2008

House of Witches

I found out that "Beit Sahour" means "House of Witches"... or maybe "House of Witch". I don't know what is the singular and what is the plural of "witch" in Arabic. Joe (as Dante dubbed Joseph) told me that in ancient times (when Beit Jala was a flourishing city, before even Bethlehem) no one wanted to come to the Beit Sahour area because it was rumored to be the place of sorcery. I'm not sure about witches, but Beit Sahour certainly is full of ghosts. These ghosts haunt the run-down streets and the shepherd's fields at night. These ghosts can be seen only in the eyes of those Beit Sahour residents who, usually so careful not to let them out, sometimes slip up and let me see the ghosts. Sometimes the ghosts actually come alive, out of the mouths of Sahouris who let free a somber song of the past. I saw one such ghost last summer when I finally heard a bit of the fear and uncertainty that had swept the area in 2001 during the siege of the Church of the Nativity. And I've caught glimmers of the ghosts when a friends mentions the army camp that was vacated only years ago, now made into a family park, but rumored to be re-converted to again house Israeli soldiers in the coming year. It's hard to miss the ghosts, but still more difficult to identify them. Sometimes these ghosts come and go so quickly amidst an atmosphere filled with hummus, falafel, Taybeh, kissses, ahlah wa sahlans, and open doors. But make no mistake, these ghosts are as alive as any ghost can be in this house of witches.

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