We have heard many tough stories during our short time in Palestine, but our visit to the Khan al-Ahmar Bedouin camp was one of the hardest to hear.  Not only has this group been deprived of their traditional way of life, they are under constant threat by the Israeli government and settlers in multiple ways:  food and water for their animals, health, livelihood and most worrisome of all, the dismantlement of the entire camp.  [The camp leader] asked us what we would do if we were in the Bedouins’ situation.  We were stunned into silence because it was difficult to imagine any solutions.  A very clever suggestion he made was to suggest to our Congressional representatives that US citizens be forced to give up their US citizenship if they choose to live in an Israeli settlement.

Our next stop was a spectacular viewpoint of the wadi Quelt.  We could see the Monastery of St. George deep in the valley.  We didn’t see any rock hyraxes, much to our disappointment.

We descended to below sea level for a delicious lunch in Jericho.  Then we waddled into the Dead Sea, where we marveled at our buoyancy. Our showers afterward left us cool and refreshed for the bus ride back to Bethlehem.

~Stephanie Mayer