Inserts:

00:03 Report | Tania Krämer
00:16 Ali Asfour | Sinjil resident 
00:55 Baha Fuqaha | Sinjil municipal council
01:17 Tania Krämer | DW Correspondent
02:30 Fadi Alwan | Palestinian volunteer

Text:   

Israeli settlers from a nearby illegal outpost  Their presence is a constant — and fills local residents with dread. The family rushes from their fields to the courtyard of their summer house. 

SOT Ali Asfour, resident Sinjil ARABIC  
“They come every day, threatening and intimidating us. What kind of life is this? We need someone to protect us— we need protection. There is no one to protect us but God”  
   
Their house sits on the outskirts of the town of Sinjil, in the occupied West Bank. Settlers regularly attack the town, and the outskirts bear the brunt of it — and it has become worse.  

Settlers established this illegal outpost only recently — one of many in the West Bank. 

To deal with the threat, people here have created social media groups to warn others in real time.  
   
SOT Baha Fuqaha, council member ARABIC  
“I film and document. When there is any attack, I let the guys know, I send a message to all the groups in Sinjil, to the young people, that there is a settler here.” 
    
Once it gets dark, Palestinian neighborhood watches jump into action. Unarmed volunteers stand guard at the edges of the town.  
 
PTC Tania, Sinjil 
So this is the reality here in the occupied West Bank. People here behind me are protecting their town from settler attacks — there is no one else to do it.   
 
ATMO: volunteer speaking into his phone  
"Guys, we are here at the spot. There are suspicious movement by settlers, if you are able to come, come quickly, come..." 
 
Reports come in of a possible intrusion by a few Israeli settlers from the other side of the hill. Some volunteers spread out in the dark. They say it is dangerous, as most settlers are armed. 
 
SOT Baha Fuqaha, walking with reporter in the dark  
"We read via the chat groups that there some settlers in between the houses. So the folks from protection committees rushed out to protect those houses." 

Palestinian police are not allowed to operate here unless coordinated with the Israeli military. The town lies in so-called areas B and C which are under shared or full control of the Israeli military.   
   
SOURCE: WA videos location: Sinjil  
Videos provided by the volunteers show some of the settler attacks in the area in recent weeks.  
   
This volunteer tells us they are the Palestinians' last defense The Israeli police and army side with the settlers, allowing them to act with no accountability. 
   
SOT Fadi Alwan, volunteer ARABIC   
 “The village lives in fear. They've surrounded it with fences, earth mounds, and iron gates. No one supports us, or asks about us. If we don't stand up for this village and protect it, no one will. In the absence of security, security becomes everyone's responsibility.” 
 
These volunteers know they can do little against an armed settler attack, but their presence still matters to the people here- and sometimes that's enough.