Please Support our Shepherd Accompaniment Project
of the shepherd accompaniers in the Palestinian Jordan Valley
(Underwritten by the Association Torah of Justice nonprofit no. 580651)
Please Note: the donation page indicates a tip to the website Yisrael Toremeth - Israel Donates - that hosts our campaign. This is at your discretion.
We are a group of Israeli volunteer accompaniers of Palestinian shepherds in the Palestinian Jordan Valley. We turn to you, asking to support our project in order to ensure the welfare and survival of the Valley’s Palestinian shepherds.
This accompanier activity has existed for many years now. But recently, taking advantage of the war on Gaza, illegal settlers in the West Bank have greatly escalated their harassment of the shepherds, and this violence has greatly impacted the survival and wellbeing of the shepherds and their families. Unfortunately, many communities have recently been forcibly expelled by the colonists from their OWN land, the spaces where they have grazed and lived for generations. We are trying hard to preserve the remaining communities. In the future, God willing, we shall bring back the exiled communities.
Throughout the Palestinian Jordan Valley, the violent colonists are in charge. Israeli ‘security forces’ do not prevent their criminal activity and even help them. The colonists now are not satisfied ‘just’ to harass the shepherds and their flocks – they enter residences, beat up family members, steal, burn and more.
We volunteers are the only buffer between the shepherd communities and these colonists. We are there nearly every day and do our utmost to prevent violence.
Our presence in the Palestinian Jordan Valley is also important for gathering data and documenting the illegal actions of the colonists and soldiers and informing the public and decision-makers in Israel and abroad. We also use legal means in order to fight injustice and its perpetrators.
Every day several teams of accompaniers go out to the Palestinian Jordan Valley. This activity takes place in all seasons and adheres to grazing hours: 6 a.m. to 11 a.m. in the summer because of the heavy heat in the Valley, winter 8 a.m. until late afternoon. In addition to grazing accompaniment, we often hold ‘protective presence’ at all hours in times of need.
We act on the ground in two groups: ‘Jordan Valley Activists’ in the northern Palestinian Jordan Valley, and a group of ‘Looking the Occupation in the Eye’ in the southern part of the Valley. The groups cooperate with one another, the money is raised together, and minimal expenses are returned to activists directly, not through their groups.
Thanks to your donation we can continue to constitute the civil society organization most active on behalf of human rights in the Occupied Territories today. This purely volunteer action is the greatest activity of Israeli citizens there, already taking place for about 6 years by dozens of activists.
Our campaign continues one that began about 2 years ago, when about 90,000 NIS were raised. However, we are running out of funds. In order to maintain the activity and continue the communities’ presence in the Palestinian Jordan Valley, we are required to raise another 100,000 NIS to cover the following needs:
· Fuel expenses paid directly to volunteers who arrive in their private vehicles. An average accompaniment day involves about 250-300 km driving, and several vehicles are involved.
· Maintenance of vehicles belonging to our association – there are three such vehicles now and we need to maintain them and cover fuel expenses.
· Legal accompaniment and consultation
Thanking you for your generous donation,
Jordan Valley Activists
Looking the Occupation in the Eye
