Since 2009, together with the International Civil Service (ICS), the IPRI Network, the Sereno Regis Study Centre and Assopace Palestine, we have been running our Civil Peace Intervention programme in Palestine in October.
Every year some young Italian volunteers are selected among numerous candidates, trained and then sent to Palestine to support the activities of our partners Popular Committees for Nonviolent Resistance and Youth Against Settlements.
Their work takes place during the traditional period of the olive harvest, when Palestinian farmers are exposed to the risk of aggression by Israeli settlers and the army when they go to their fields for the harvest, which is prevented by military forces.
The intervention is therefore aimed at the accompaniment and protection of Palestinian peasants, to protect their right to access their own land, in an attempt to defuse violent processes and mitigate the aggressiveness of settlers and soldiers, as is generally the case when there is an international operatorÉ™ presence in the area.
The initiative, which involves updating the 'Gathering Peace' blog each year with articles and collected testimonies of young volunteers, is part of the actions implemented by the international community such as the Boycott(BDS), financial support, direct solidarity with Palestinian activists, and the awareness-raising projects we carry out annually.
