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This Substack will document my time as an international volunteer providing protective presence in Palestinian villages in the West Bank. I will be traveling in May and will begin posting regular reports once I arrive.

What this is

These posts will be firsthand accounts of daily life in communities where homes and land are under immediate threat of confiscation by Israeli settlers, often with the support or protection of the Israeli army.

I will be staying in these villages for periods of time, alongside Palestinian families and other activists. My role is not to speak for the people who live there, but to be present—to observe, to document, and to share what I see and hear as carefully and accurately as I can.

You can expect:

• Short, regular field reports

• Descriptions of daily events and conditions

• Observations of how people navigate ongoing pressure and uncertainty

• Reflections on the role of protective presence and accompaniment

  What this is not

  This is not a comprehensive analysis, and it is not intended to be a definitive account of the broader political situation.

  These are limited, situated observations—one person’s record of what I witness in a specific place and time.

  Where I describe events, I will distinguish as clearly as possible between what I directly observe, what I am told, and what I cannot verify.

  Why am I going

  I am a physician and a mother. Over the past months, I have followed events in Gaza and the West Bank from a distance—writing to elected representatives, attending protests, and contributing where I can.

  At a certain point, that distance began to feel insufficient.

  I do not believe it is acceptable to live in a world where power alone determines who is allowed safety, dignity, and a future. Nor do I believe we can remain silent while communities are displaced and a people’s connection to their land is being erased.

The current reality in the West Bank is part of a longer history of displacement that began in 1948, in what Palestinians call the Nakba. For many, what is happening now is experienced as its relentless continuation.

I am going to bear witness, to document, and to contribute—however modestly—to a sustained record of what is happening.