Please Support our Shepherd Accompaniment Project 

(Underwritten by the Association Torah of Justice nonprofit no. 580651)

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.

Since 07.10.2023 with significant ascelation of the settler violence, we are presence in several communities covering majors areas holding  ‘protective presence’ at all hours 24 hours a days, 7 days a week. 

 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 more than 8 years by dozens of activists. 

As a partial refund for the extensive private drives to the west bank, we required to raise and amount of 300,000 ILS a  year to cover up more than 1000 travels a year.

   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 five such vehicles now and we need to maintain them and cover fuel expenses. 
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Thanking you for your generous donation, 

Jordan Valley Activists 

Looking the Occupation in the Eye