My name is Charlotte Mendel and I am a Canadian Israeli doing Protective Presence in the West Bank with Torat Tzedek, founded by Rabbi Arik Ascherman (https://protectivepresence.org.il/?lang=en). Right now, extremist settlers are targeting a cluster of Palestinian families on the outskirts of Taybeh. The settlers aim to intimidate and terrorize the families until they leave their homes.

The settlers live in an illegal, recently-erected outpost close to the families they want to evict, but the police and army rarely intervene. Throughout the West Bank, the main defence for Palestinians is Protective Presence, who stay with the families in shifts, 24/7. How can we protect them? We film all illegal activity and the settlers don’t want their violence caught on film. I stay with different families—the photo was taken outside Husni’s home.

If we are outnumbered, we cannot always film their activities. Husni and the other families have had their fences destroyed and their water tanks dumped. “My family served in the Israeli army,” Ahmed, a young Bedouin, told me. “I don’t understand why they are doing this to me.” Husni is an older gentleman—his wife is the lady lying on the bed in the photo. “Twenty years ago the settlers used to drink tea with us,” he said. “Now they want us gone, or dead.”

I experience Protective Presence like a nightmare; I have been hit, kicked; rocks have been thrown at me. Constant intimidation. But above all, the human capacity for........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)