Editing Arab–Israeli peace projects (section)

=== Rabbis for Human Rights ===

Rabbis for Human Rights is an Israeli [[human rights]] organization that describes itself as "the rabbinic voice of conscience in Israel, giving voice to the Jewish tradition of human rights".<ref name="Rabbis for Human Rights home page">[http://www.rhr.org.il/eng/ Rabbis for Human Rights home page] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161014135957/http://www.rhr.org.il/eng/ |date=October 14, 2016 }}, accessed 27 April 2011.</ref> Their membership includes [[Reform Judaism|Reform]], [[Orthodox Judaism|Orthodox]], [[Conservative Judaism|Conservative]] and [[Reconstructionist Judaism|Reconstructionist]] rabbis and students. According to their web site, the organization includes "over one hundred ordained rabbis and rabbinical students".<ref name="Rabbis for Human Rights home page" /> The organization received the [[Niwano Peace Prize]] in 2006.<ref>[http://www.prnewswire.co.uk/cgi/news/release?id=170568 'Rabbis For Human Rights' Gets Niwano Peace Prize] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110608090634/http://www.prnewswire.co.uk/cgi/news/release?id=170568 |date=June 8, 2011}} accessed 30 March 2007</ref>

RHR is best known for dispatching volunteers to act as [[human shield]]s to protect the Palestinian [[olive]] harvest from vandalism and assault by settlers living on nearby land; every year, clashes are reported between settlers and Palestinian farmers.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.jpost.com/NationalNews/Article.aspx?id=241115 |title=Settlers, Palestinian farmers collide in Itamar |work=[[The Jerusalem Post]] |date=10 October 2011 |access-date=20 January 2012 |last=Lazaroff |first=Tovah}}</ref> In 2008, the volunteer effort encompassed 40 villages.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.haaretz.com/news/settlers-clash-with-rabbis-guarding-palestinian-olive-harvest-near-hebron-1.254901 |title=Settlers clash with rabbis guarding Palestinian olive harvest near Hebron|date=3 October 2008 |publisher=[[Reuters]] |access-date=20 January 2012}}</ref> The effort was launched in 2002 when a Palestinian peace activist solicited RHR's help to protect olive pickers against attacks by settlers living near the village of [[Yanun]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2005/mar/25/israel |title=The rabbi who pricks Israel's conscience: Zionism is moral, not military, says activist convicted of blocking West Bank bulldozers |last=McGreal |first=Chris |date=25 March 2005 |access-date=17 January 2012 |work=[[The Guardian]]}}</ref>

RHR opposes the construction of the [[Israeli West Bank barrier]] in any place where it entails the expropriation of Arab-owned land, the division of villages, or cutting farmers off from their fields. RHR achieved a major victory in 2006 when it won a lawsuit to prevent the division by the fence of the village of [[ash-Sheikh Sa'd|Sheikh Sa'ad]].<ref>''Israel Today'', May 2006.</ref>