Brighton & Hove PSC (BHPSC) is urgently raising funds to support a crowd-funding initiative to help families in the Masafer Yatta region of the occupied West Bank. We will match pound-for-pound every donation, drawing on our existing funds from local donors.

The 1400 people living in the Masafer Yatta region in the very south of the Occupied West Bank are facing the biggest mass expulsion by Israel in decades. Families who have lived in the area for generations are living in a constant state of fear. Many homes and schools have already been demolished. For many communities, demolition is imminent. International condemnation has so far not deterred Israel from this incremental ethnic cleansing. Time is running out.

As part of the Defend Masafer Yatta Campaign, the Middle East Children's Alliance have joined Stop the Wall Campaign in launching an urgent fundraising appeal to enable people to stay steadfast on their land. They are aiming to raise £20,000 to provide 10 tents and electricity generators as temporary shelter for when demolitions occur, and to renovate 10 large caves (historically used by local people as dwellings) to create new homes and schools for displaced families and their children.

BHPSC wants to actively support the people of Masafer Yatta, especially after recently hearing about the current situation directly from local activists and observers. We therefore aim to raise £4000 to contribute to the MECA/StW target of £20,000. And we will match pound-for-pound every donation, drawing on our existing funds from local donors.

The clock is ticking for the people of Masafer Yatta. Your donation can help their resistance. Please give generously.

A few weeks ago, we hosted an online meeting focused on the situation in Masafer Yatta in the south Hebron hills, featuring local activist and journalist Basel al-Adraa and international observer Joan Neary. You can view a recording of the meeting by clicking here.

We were dismayed and moved by the descriptions of brutal incremental ethnic cleansing, perpetrated by the Israeli regime against the Palestinians in Masafer Yatta. In the discussion, people rightly asked what they could do to help.

BHPSC has identified one small but significant way we can help to support the people of Masafer Yatta, and to show our solidarity with their resistance.