Defending Lives Through Nonviolence: Support UCP in Palestine (UCPiP)
Join us in co-creating a bold, nonviolent response to escalating violence. Over a hundred trained veterans of unarmed civilian protection (UCP) are ready to deploy to Palestine. These protectors have decades of experience in violent conflict zones, from South Sudan to Colombia, and now stand in solidarity with Palestinian communities under siege.
New Pilot Launching June 2025
In response to growing settler and military violence, UCPiP is launching its first pilot project in the South Jordan Valley. Two rotating teams of six trained civilian protectors will maintain a 24/7 presence in the Bedouin community of Muarrajat, providing accompaniment, solidarity, and direct protection to residents facing near-daily attacks.
"If you can come tomorrow, please do." – Community leader, Muarrajat
"Having foreigners here is like a warm hug to us." – Local villager
Read the full Pilot Project Proposal (PDF):
Click Here
Pilot Objectives
- Deter violence and protect lives
- Ensure safe access to water, grazing land, and schools
- Empower local communities through nonviolent resistance
- Support community-based evaluation of their safety
- Lay the foundation for long-term deployments across Palestine
- Stand in solidarity with people under threat to help break the isolation of apartheid.
The Bigger Vision: 100 Civilian Protectors Across Palestine
Your support helps us build toward a larger deployment of 100 trained UCP personnel working directly with Palestinian partner organizations in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza.
- Provide protective presence and accompaniment
- Safeguard humanitarian access
- Help stop ethnic cleansing and annexation
- Support community self-protection
- Monitor ceasefires and violations of international law
- Support displaced families returning to their homes
- Help farmers and herders stay on their land safely
Based on previous experience and the documented effectiveness of UCP, a project of this scale could reduce deaths, injuries, and relocations, help make civilians feel safer, allow dislocated civilians to return home, and help farmers and shepherds to return to their land.
Read this article by Mel Duncan in Waging Nonviolence.
Global Solidarity Network
We're building Solidarity Circles that connect people worldwide, activists, students, congregations, with Palestinians in Muarrajat and beyond. Through Zoom calls, campaigns, pen pals, and advocacy, these circles amplify local voices globally.
Advocacy partners could include: faith groups, neighborhood organizations, advocacy groups, labor unions, book clubs, student groups…
For more information, contact Randy at [email protected]
Randy Janzen accompanying a shepherd and his flock in the Jordan Valley (March 2024).
Our team will be in a similar area.
Donate Now – Protect Civilians and Sustain This Work
Every contribution helps deploy protectors, cover safety training, support local staff, and expand our reach across Palestine.
You may also send a check payable to “Nonviolence International." Note the project, UCPiP, on the memo line and mail to: PO Box 39127, Friendship Station NW, Washington DC 20016 USA
Donations in the US are tax-deductible. We are a fiscally-sponsored project of Nonviolence International, a registered 501(c)(3) charitable organization. As a sponsoring organization, Nonviolence International is required to retain discretion and control of the funds, which will, in all events, be used for the intended charitable purposes. NVI's EIN is: 52-1645787