“When you tell us that CJNV is returning next year, it makes me very happy because it shows you trust me. I don’t need people to come for just one year, we want a relationship that continues.”
– Awdah, Umm al-Khair
The Center for Jewish Nonviolence (CJNV) is piloting Hineinu, a new solidarity project that will bring 4 to 6 Jewish justice seekers to spend three months in the South Hebron Hills, engaging in daily solidarity activities and deepening relationships of coresistance. We invite you to join us in this new and vital endeavor in solidarity.
What
Hineinu activists will spend three months living in the South Hebron Hills and engaging in daily solidarity activities in coordination with our Palestinian partners. They will accompany local residents while they are shepherding, farming, commuting, and engaging in a variety of activities in which they may face military or settler harassment. Activists will be available to act in coordination with our partners in the event of home demolitions or other efforts to displace residents, document ongoing events, and participate in nonviolent direct action in the region.
Throughout the three months, activists will work to communicate their experiences to transnational audiences, crafting narratives that can advance coresistance efforts. They will work with Palestinian activists to highlight their stories and experiences living and resisting under occupation, serving to further amplify partners’ voices. Additional activities include developing solidarity initiatives with other relevant organizations, and participating in workshops and trainings by local activists and experts in the field. Over the course of the program, participating activists will build relationships that will expand and strengthen CJNV’s network of solidarity and coresistance.
During the three months, CJNV will provide participants with group lodging, logistical support, nonviolent direct action training, and facilitation. Participants will also engage in an active and intentional process with one another and benefit from a variety of educational, political, and skills-building activities meant to resource and empower them in their work as Jewish solidarity activists in the South Hebron Hills.
Why
We know from our experience that the presence of solidarity activists mitigates settler and military violence against local activists and community residents in Area C of the occupied West Bank. CJNV has forged dynamic, sustained, and trusting relationships in solidarity with communities throughout the region across five years of coresistance against the occupation.
Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, there have been no international solidarity activists and only a few Israeli activists present in the South Hebron Hills. Meanwhile, the effects of occupation have only intensified and compounded as settler harassment, military violence, home demolitions, and land seizure continue unabated. Our partners have made clear that because the violence of occupation is continuing in this moment, solidarity must continue as well.
Who
We are looking for experienced activists who have backgrounds in the following:
- Civil Disobedience and Direct Action
- Nonviolent Theory and Practice
- Cross-Community Organizing
- Communications and Media (narrative and visual)
- Facilitation or Mediation
- Arabic and/or Hebrew (ideally, both) a plus
- Experience in the region preferred
- Israeli citizenship a plus for ease of travel and logistical possibility
We invite multiple perspectives, approaches, beliefs and political ideologies, and we seek to cultivate dialogue and negotiation about these differences. Those affiliated with CJNV take a variety of positions on the Right of Return, BDS, solutions, Zionism, etc. We come together under a common banner of solidarity and co-resistance. We believe that in coming together across these differences we gain greater collective power, and we challenge and push each other to become fuller and more developed justice-seekers. We know this isn’t always easy and requires us to be in deep and vulnerable relationship with each other.
Our participating activists represent many genders, sexualities, races, nationalities, socio-economic classes, levels of formal education, forms of religious observance, and organizational affiliations. We embrace this diversity and expect that all participating activists will act with openness and respect toward all other participating activists at all times.
We believe a robust and diversely connected movement is most powerful in building sustainable grassroots resistance and that we must actively transform the ways oppressive systems are perpetuated and internalized within our justice movements. That involves centering those most affected by structural oppression and cultivating a broad and diverse network of Jewish justice-seekers. We recognize that our organizing space is white-Ashkenazi dominant, and we warmly encourage Jews of Color, Mizrahi, and Sephardi Jews to apply and have scholarships available to support JOCSM leadership.
Purpose and Desired Impacts
This project will offer urgent solidarity while expanding the capacity for joint civil disobedience and sustained action in the South Hebron Hills. We will leverage international Jewish privilege to mitigate violence against residents of the region. We will amplify the voices and stories of our Palestinian partners while meaningfully contributing to nonviolent popular struggle and resilience in the region.
We also want to model a Jewish ethical vision anchored in values of solidarity, justice, and equality. In past delegations and actions, CJNV has modeled an embodied vision of the shared future we are working toward. Now, we want to build and expand our work by bringing Jewish internationals to live with Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, contend with and struggle against the daily realities of state violence, and actively demonstrate a Jewish commitment to joint resistance and collective freedom.
When
*Program Dates: February 1st – April 30th, 2021 (dates subject to change)
Cost
Fee for participation is offered on a sliding scale. The program cost is all-inclusive and subsidized. Fees cover housing, transportation, food, insurance, projects, training and supplies. Please note that the cost DOES NOT include airfare. Participating activists are responsible for making their own international travel arrangements to and from the region.
1. Cost of participation—not including CJNV operational costs—is $1500. This rate DOES NOT include volunteer travel and training, staff salaries, year-round organizing expenses, etc.
2. Actual cost of the program—including CJNV operational costs—is $2000. This rate covers program costs and contributes toward CJNV’s operational expenses such as staff salaries, training and travel.
3. Solidarity rate is $2500. This rate covers program costs and contributes toward CJNV’s operational expenses, as well as supporting our scholarship fund for participating activists. We ask all those who are able to pay the solidarity rate to help subsidize the cost of participation for those with fewer financial resources.
The reason we are able to offer this comprehensive program on this sliding scale is thanks to the extraordinary volunteer efforts of the organizing team. All participating activists will be expected to share their talents to make this campaign a success.
Scholarships will be available and will range from $100 to a maximum of $500 depending on need. These scholarships will go toward the cost-of-program rate of $1500, so if you are offered a $500 scholarship your program costs will be $1000. Please indicate in your application that you are applying for a scholarship. Participating activists are encouraged to utilize grassroots sources and online crowd-fundraising to help offset the costs of their participation. In the past, participating activists have been able to raise the entire cost of their program through these platforms. CJNV organizers will support individuals with their grassroots and online fundraising initiatives.
Application Information
If you are interested, have questions, or would like to discuss further, please reach out to Oriel at oriel@cjnv.org.
Are you seriously considering joining this project? Fill out this form as an expression of interest and to apply. While it is a difficult time to make plans (particularly plans which include international travel), we invite you to fill out this form, even if you are not yet certain if joining will be possible. Once applications are submitted, we will set up a call with likely candidates to discuss the program and next steps further.
- Application Deadline: December 2nd, 2020
- $100 deposit to confirm participation due: Wednesday December 23, 2020
- Project fee due (more information above): Wednesday January 6, 2020
• Please note that applications must be completed in one sitting and your answers will not be saved if you close out of the internet browser window. Applications should take about 20-30 minutes to fill out.
A note about COVID-19
We are vigilantly monitoring the health guidelines and travel regulations as they emerge. Our first priority is the health and wellness of our participants and our partners. We are developing plans and contingencies that account for various circumstances and will be in active conversation with each person interested in this project. Please don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions.
*Note: While the program is still in development and changes to programming may occur, CJNV will communicate any changes in a timely manner.