TWO retired teachers spent 11 days rebuilding a demolished home in a village in Palestine.

Elaine and Stuart Jones, of Gosfield, travelled to Al Walaja, 5km west of Bethlehem, alongside the Amos Trust to rebuild a home owned by a young family until it was knocked down last April.

Elaine said: “We had a little ceremony when the home was nearly completed.

“We all wrote a note for the young couple and it was put into tubing, laid amongst the steel reinforcements and then buried into the cement roof.

“Our hope is that those messages will never be read, which will mean that the home is never demolished again.”

While on their visit earlier this month, Elaine and Stuart experienced first-hand the difficulties Palestinians face on a daily basis.

This hit home as they struggled through security at the only checkpoint to leave Bethlehem as they returned to Tel Aviv Airport.

Elaine said: “We did it once, but most Palestinians have to do this every day in order to go to work.

“They are issued an eight hour permit, and going through this checkpoint can take up to two hours in peak times. There is no freedom of movement.

“We also encountered tear gas. In another refugee camp near the wall, we saw soldiers shooting tear gas canisters into the camp for no apparent reason.

“We were a few hundred metres away but could feel it in our eyes and nose.

“Life isn’t easy and the Palestinians have done this for over 50 years, some knowing nothing else.

“People we met just said to us: ‘Thank you for coming here. Please, just tell everybody what you see’.”

See justgiving.com/elaine-jones18.