The pastoral setting of the village of An Numan belies a complicated and disturbing legal reality: traditionally the village has been part of the Bethlehem governate (a little like a county), but the borders of the city of Jerusalem were extended to include the land of and around the village. That meant that all of the sudden, the Palestinian people were living in Jerusalem, not the West Bank. It also meant that they have been summarily cut off from the neighboring villages. In 2005 a checkpoint was installed along the road just before the turn off for the village. All of the residents pass through the checkpoint each day as they go to and from any point in the West Bank (including the school which a number of the children attend) as they are now legally considered permanent residents of Jerusalem. Yet they are still Palestinian and do not have legal status as Israeli citizens. A few of the residents have Jerusalem cards (all Palestinians either have West Bank resident cards or Jerusalem cards. The cards are not the same; holders of Jerusalem cards have a slightly larger scope of activities open to them including, for example, the option to travel through the main Israeli airport. West Bank card holders must cross into Jordan and to fly out of the international airport in Amman, Jordan), but it's a very long, complicated, and time consuming process to get a Jerusalem card.
Of course, this strange status of the village and the villagers means that they are cut off from family (they can leave their village to visit family who are in a neighboring village, but family cannot come to see them as no West Bank card holders are allowed through this particular checkpoint), and services such as plumbers, electricians, and emergency care from Bethlehem, the closest city. In other words, the village is isolated from the larger community and network of Palestinians. For a people that are centered in community life and the connective web of extended family, this isolation is heartbreaking.

Today, myself and three others from the team went to visit the village. We have a contact there, a currently unemployed 23 year old geography teacher who speaks English very well. The last time members of the team tried to cross at the checkpoint (which shouldn't be a problem as internationals are free to cross into Jerusalem), they were refused passage. But, today, we passed through the checkpoint with no problems (it probably helped that there was a bevy of young girls ages 6-10 or so just in front of us).

We hiked up the road to the village and were rewarded with a fantastic view of the surrounding area including Bethlehem, the neighboring villages, the "settlers' road" (which is lined with an electric fence on both sides), and the nearby settlement which has expansion plans which would further encroach upon the traditional farming lands of the villagers. It was a beautiful spring day and we had a lovely visit with Sabreen (and her younger brother who tagged along with us and climbed an olive tree, see photo). We walked through the village, stopped to visit another young woman named Safira (who recently passed her driving test!), and then walked down through the fields to an old abandoned house. It was such a pleasant day and, despite the checkpoint, the fence, the jets flying overhead and the nearby settlement, we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Gunnar, Phil and Stefan all joked that they would like to move to this village for retirement as it was such a peaceful place today.

I hope and pray that the villagers will continue to live and find a way to thrive in a place of such refreshment and that it WILL be a peaceful place again for good.