June 27.2013 Community Service Day 1
The fourth day of camp started with going far below sea level to the surrounding villages of Jericho and the Jordan Valley. There, Go Palestine Camp learned that illegal settlers are paid by the Israeli government to live and cultivate the land. However, the Palestinians who previously owned the land are cultivating what used to be theirs and are paid very little for it. In fact, it takes a Palestinian working on a settlement farm about four days to earn enough money to fill a water tank, and the Palestinian families use this water in less than two days.
Furthermore, we visited a small Palestinian village, and compared its dry environment to the lush, green settlements who redirect water from Palestinian wells to their settlements and farms. We talked to the young children of the village and saw its small school, which was under a demolition order twice by the Israeli government. Thankfully, it is still standing today!
After this, we did service work with the villagers of Jiftlik to help them make clay blocks to rebuild houses that were demolished by the Israeli military. This happens weekly in Palestinian villages and that same day we saw Israeli jeeps and bulldozers who just recently finished demolishing two houses. After completing our service work we were cordially invited to a Palestinian home in order to eat a traditional meal.
We then sent the campers home to shower and change and went to Quattro Club in Ramallah to have a delicious meal, bowl, play games, and dance! This was a great way to wind down the day after working and touring the desert.
The fourth day of camp started with going far below sea level to the surrounding villages of Jericho and the Jordan Valley. There, Go Palestine Camp learned that illegal settlers are paid by the Israeli government to live and cultivate the land. However, the Palestinians who previously owned the land are cultivating what used to be theirs and are paid very little for it. In fact, it takes a Palestinian working on a settlement farm about four days to earn enough money to fill a water tank, and the Palestinian families use this water in less than two days. 
After this, we did service work with the villagers of Jiftlik to help them make clay blocks to rebuild houses that were demolished by the Israeli military. This happens weekly in Palestinian villages and that same day we saw Israeli jeeps and bulldozers who just recently finished demolishing two houses. After completing our service work we were cordially invited to a Palestinian home in order to eat a traditional meal. 
We then sent the campers home to shower and change and went to Quattro Club in Ramallah to have a delicious meal, bowl, play games, and dance! This was a great way to wind down the day after working and touring the desert. 
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