An Evening with Combatants for Peace Netherlands and Shepherds from the Jordan Valley
12 October 2026
Naomi van Gelder of Combatants for Peace Netherlands invited the Dutch network of the Anna Lindh Foundation to an evening gathering on 12 October at Café Belcampo in Amsterdam, owned by our network member Gary Feinstein of Arts&Dialogue. Jewish and Palestinian members of Combatants for Peace Netherlands attended.
During the evening, a live online connection was established with Palestinian shepherds from the Jordan Valley in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Seeing and hearing the shepherds describe how Israeli settlers were driving them from their land and deliberately destroying their livelihoods was deeply moving. As their grazing areas shrink, they increasingly need to purchase feed for their animals, substantially raising the cost of sustaining their livelihoods. Several families have already given up shepherding. Those we met online are among the last shepherding families in the area.
Following the online exchange, a panel comprising two Dutch Jews and two Dutch Palestinians discussed the need to support Palestinians in the West Bank and raise funds to help the shepherds purchase feed through a local Palestinian network. The audience was asked not to make photos of the shepherds out of fear for retaliation by shepherds.
Combatants for Peace Netherlands is affiliated with Combatants for Peace, an Israeli-Palestinian movement bringing together Jews and Palestinians. Their work demonstrates that Jews and Palestinians can cooperate when the will to do so exists on both sides.
