Tuesday 25 December
On Mosque patrol, Johann Funk observed that border police were ordering veiled women to show their faces and all women to remove their belts. While searching one bag, a border police officer ordered the Palestinian to open a snack pack. As the officer examined the contents, he flung some at the Palestinian and waved him away. As the Palestinian left, the soldier finished the snack to the laughter of his companions.

Back home, we sometimes followed a tradition of creating a living Advent scenario. We would set up the manger, dust off all the key figures, and move them along their path towards Jesus’ birth over the season of Advent …Since we couldn’t find a crafted stable for sale or rent, we constructed one out of a used cardboard box. Coincidentally, these efforts happened around the same time the people from border villages inside Kurdistan were seeking shelter in caves because the Turkish military had begun to attack what were supposed to be PKK (a Kurdish militia) strongholds.