Protective Presence is the definition and title of our activity in the residential and agricultural areas of Palestinian herding communities in the occupied West Bank. Our presence is meant to protect them from the harassment of extremist and violent settlers, residents of the illegal outposts established in the Jordan Valley in recent years and increasingly so since October 7, 2023.
The goal is clear and overt: to cleanse the area of Palestinians for the benefit of settlers and annex it to Israel, while the settlers' communities and outposts built in violation of the law expand at record pace, unhindered and with security establishment backing. The violence of outpost settlers against Palestinian residents is surging, and the authorities do nothing against them.
We are a group of volunteers, present in the Jordan Valley and hillsides every day, serving as the sole buffer between herding communities and settlers who act with extreme cruelty against Palestinian residents to push them out as part of an ethnic cleansing policy supported by the government, army, and police. Our activity also includes assisting community members with the authorities, primarily through legal aid.
We are there every day. Our presence is also important for data collection and documentation of illegal acts by these parties, bringing them to public attention and to decision-makers in Israel and abroad. We also engage in legal activities to fight injustices. In addition, a human connection has been created between activists and communities, enabling our volunteers to help individually with equipment, clothing, toys, English lessons, and rehabilitation of destroyed water wells and infrastructure.
We need more volunteers to join the shifts going out daily for protective presence activities in the Jordan Valley and hillsides. Join Protective Presence...
