-Congratulations, Liv, Conny said as he came out of his room.

-What for?

I did not remember what day it was, and I did not think that a Swede would remind me of the 17^th of May!

The closest feeling of 17^th of May was going to church at eight in the morning.

 

In Tulkarem there is only one Christian family, and they go to the Greek Orthodox Church about once a month when they have a priest coming from Jerusalem.

The church was destroyed in 2006 and rebuilt in 2007. The money to rebuild came from The Patriarch, private donors and about kr. 50.000 from Tulkarem community, which is mainly influenced by Muslims! 

We were most welcome and included in their ceremony.

 

Like much of our work and experience here, the days are filled with contrasts.

Our next appointment was in the refugee camp. This was our first English conversation class for women.

I find it very interesting and nice to speak with women here. They seem proud of getting to know us, and they take good care of us.

 

-Come here, one of them said after the English lesson and off we went and ended up in a Fatah meeting! They were about to vote for 25 representatives for Tulkarem community.  These women took us safely through the crowd and into a room with lots of people where the campaign was going on. When we left the place, they took us out of the back door where we had to pass a group of Muslim men praying.

 

On the way back we stopped a store where women in Tulkarem sell some handcraft. There was a dress hanging there with some embroidery on and I asked for the price.

 

- It is very expensive, – the lady answered without telling the price.

Now I really became curious.

-It cost kr 180, she told us and explained that another were cheaper because the material and the work was different.

-How long does it take to make a dress like this?

-About 2 months.

I feel very comfortable to buy from this store here in order to give a direct support to the women of Tulkarem and at the same time get nice gifts.

 

-May I ask where are from and do you do here.

There was a young man with his family in the store asking in very polite way and with a slight accent.

We are easy to notice, not only because of our look, but also because of our cloths and vest.

 

After explaining it to him, I briefly got his story:

 

- You are lucky to be here at this time. A few years ago, it was much worse.

I live in the US now, I am married to a woman from Jaffa, Israel, and we are here on vacation, but we leave tomorrow. Four years ago I when I was here last time, I was shot in my leg!

 

In the evening we were in the center Square talking with some kids and students. They enjoy spending time with us.

At the same time looking to Netanya, Israel, on a distance of 17 km, which is unattainable for most Palestinians.

-I was wondering what, will happen if this conflict suddenly came to an end.

-I was also reflecting about freedom, which is one the main issues people here want to talk about, or more specific; the lack of freedom to move around and cross the boarder to another country!

 

Another day is over; I am full of new impressions.

This 17^th of May has certainly been a different experience this year, and the word, freedom, has got a new dimension in my mind.