Improving and increasing protection measures as well as respect of IHL and IHRL The project will focus on providing protective presence, that focuses on accompaniment, monitoring and documentation of International Humanitarian Law (IHL) and International Human Rights Law (IHRL) violations in the South Hebron Hills and Jordan Valley (Area C), with focus on where Israel seeks to forcibly transfer Palestinian communities by creating coercive environment, particularly in the South Hebron Hills, the Jerusalem-Jericho corridor, the Jordan Valley, and areas suffering from rampant settler violence. 

The protective presence and documentation of the violations will be conducted by both the Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI) through their Ecumenical Accompaniers (EAs) presence in the field on a daily basis and through B’Tselem who will document violations through their field officers and their videographer volunteers. The primary source of information is first person testimonies from victims and eyewitnesses to human rights violations and for EAPPI, in certain cases, it is documenting what the EAs have witnessed themselves. The documentations and reporting of these violations from both parties will be used to raise awareness for the IHL and IHRL violations that are occurring in Area C, to increase respect for IHL and IHRL and accountability for violations as well as to provide protection by referring them to organizations that can offer support and assistance based on the needs. 

Furthermore, in the aftermath of the absence of international protective presence, EAPPI will provide training and will work to mainstream protection with local and international partners on the ground. This will be done in cooperation with the Protection Cluster (PC). Focus will be on transferring expertise in the accompaniment presence methodology, Do No Harm approach, safety and security capacities, culture awareness and other related subjects for all those providing protective presence. In addition, DCA/NCA will facilitate access to communities in the South Hebron Hills where EAPPI will carry out consultation sessions with local communities on protective presence.

The project will be coordinated by DCA/NCA and will rely on a joint cooperation between EAPPI, B’Tselem that will contribute to a comprehensive and effective response in the targeted area to improve protection and thus resilience. EAPPI has established proven strategies which include the combination of protective presence, monitoring, documenting, and referral of needs to increase awareness about IHL and IHRL to the local and the international communities and advocate for upholding these laws. 

EAPPI documents the violations, verifies them, and shares them with a list of organizations for their response. Furthermore, the documentation will be shared with diplomats, UN organizations and other duty bearers via their database and the EAs present the information in their advocacy initiatives that aim to address protection concerns and enhance accountability for violations of IHL and IHRL by all duty bearers. EAPPI will carry out a data analysis of these violations and provide information on the type of incidents, if there has been a raise in incidents and if there are any trends. After the data analysis, it will be forwarded to respective organizations. 
B’Tselem’s field researchers will monitor and document human rights violations in Area C through primary sources of information from victims and eyewitnesses to human rights violations while working closely with Palestinian volunteer videographers. The footage they capture is used to raise awareness of the impact of the Israeli occupation on Palestinians. 
DCA/NCA will provide quality assurance of the program implementation, will formulate a steering committee with EAPPI and B’Tselem. In addition, DCA/NCA will monitor the implementation will be responsible for ensuring that accountability practices and measures are applied and that PSEA is mainstreamed across the project.