The Impact of Volunteering in Palestine: Volunteering is a great way to build skills, see new places, meet new people, and make a difference in the community. International volunteering in places that have a greater social need can be a really great way to spend a summer break or a gap in your career. 

The impact of volunteering is often a two-way street. You’re able to use your skills, experience, or expertise to help people who need it. In return, you get to learn about yourself and gain practical experience while doing something that helps others.

Have you ever thought about volunteering in Palestine? It might not be the first place that comes to mind when you think about planning a week or a few months abroad. However, there are many great reasons why you should consider spending time in this wonderful place. Aside from the welcoming people, the delicious food, and the rich history of the land, volunteering gives you an opportunity to use your time making a big impact in Palestinian communities. Read on to find out how! 

Direct Impact on Palestinian Communities

Volunteering has a direct impact on Palestinian communities, from the activities you engage in to the restaurants you eat at! There are three key ways that your time in Palestine can make a real difference to the community you’re based in: 

Supporting Education

Good education is essential to a thriving population. In some parts of the West Bank, especially the many refugee camps, education is not reliable or easily accessible. Volunteering to help improve education for children and adults is a really valuable way to help contribute to local communities. Volunteers can do this through activities like teaching English, running workshops, or supporting literacy programs. 

Empowering Marginalised Groups

Like anywhere, some groups in Palestine have less power and less access to resources. Volunteering in the West Bank can help support vulnerable groups like women, youth, and refugees by providing skills training, professional mentorship, and opportunities for cultural exchange.  

Economic Contributions

The positive impact of volunteering doesn’t just come from the program activities you undertake; it also comes from your economic footprint! Especially in a time when not many tourists are visiting Palestine, volunteers help sustain local businesses through the hotels they stay at, the restaurants they eat at, and the sustainable tourism they engage in. Many people’s livelihoods, and those of their families, rely on income from small businesses like these. 

Strengthening Cultural Understanding and Solidarity

One of the most rewarding aspects of volunteering is fostering cross-cultural exchange. The more time you spend with people from different places, learning about different parts of the world, the richer your life can be. 

Palestine is a welcoming place full of history, culture and tradition. Spending time in the West Bank is a great opportunity to learn through immersion. People are very friendly and hospitality is important, so it is likely you will be invited to celebrate weddings, birthdays, and some religious holidays. This gives a unique look-in to daily life here.

Conversely, spending time with international people has great value for locals. Travel is difficult – if not impossible – for many Palestinians, so interaction with people from around the world gives them the ability to broaden their own horizons, as well as practice English with native speakers. 

Advocating for Palestine can have a much greater impact when you speak from your own experience. Spending time in Palestine equips volunteers with the ability to advocate for human rights and increase awareness about Palestinian resilience and the challenges they face. 

A recent volunteer, Eva, shares her experience of how volunteering in Palestine helped develop her cultural understanding and solidarity: “I studied Israel/Palestine at University, and felt like I had a pretty good knowledge of the conflict from an academic standpoint. However, the experience of being here is completely different. Seeing the restriction on people’s movement firsthand, car searches at checkpoints, hearing stories of loss – but then seeing the continued resilience of the people here that I have come to call friends, is unlike anything I’ve experienced before. I feel like I have a brand new depth of understanding that is impossible to get from the page.”

Inspiring Hope and Resilience

It might not sound like much, but even the presence of international volunteers can have a positive impact on Palestinian communities. Some places around Hebron, especially smaller villages next to Israeli settlements like Umm Al Khayer, fear demolitions, attacks, and cuts to basic services from settlers and soldiers. These communities often invite international people to stay with them, which can help prevent violence and provide witnesses to the experience of Palestinian life under occupation. This is important both to help people go about their daily lives with less fear, and to show them they are not forgotten by the world. 

Volunteer presence can also help to amplify the efforts of local organisations by supporting their activities and giving them more visibility. For example, volunteers often contribute to community events, such as cultural exchange programs and public advocacy campaigns, helping to share Palestinian narratives with a broader audience. In refugee camps like Al-Fawwar, volunteers support English teaching for children, assist with local projects, and document human rights issues, bringing international visibility to challenges on the ground. By working alongside Palestinian-led initiatives, volunteers can help reinforce local resilience and make sure their contributions align with community needs.

Personal Growth and Development for Volunteers

Volunteering in Palestine doesn’t just have a positive impact on the people and communities people work with; it also has a lasting impact on the volunteers themselves. During their time in Palestine, volunteers are able to develop existing skills or build valuable new ones, like teaching, teamwork, cross-cultural communication, and problem-solving. Having practical experience in these areas is an asset when it comes to future employment or life in general. 

People who spend time volunteering with Engage in Palestine often speak about the deep personal impact of their experience. Working in a conflict-affected area like the West Bank exposes volunteers to a kind of reality many of them have never personally experienced. Hearing the stories of loss, survival and resilience give a different perspective, shaping people’s worldview and personal values – sometimes even the trajectory of their lives. 

Long-Term Impact on Communities

While our volunteers typically spend between one week to three months in Hebron (the maximum offered on a tourist visa by Israel), the long-term impact of volunteers on local communities is significant. Volunteer programs through Engage in Palestine focus on education, skills, and capacity building, which have a long lasting effect on the people they work with. 

More intangible but no less important is the long-term impact of volunteering on breaking social barriers. Volunteering helps build mutual understanding and respect between Palestinians and people from all over the world, reducing narrow stereotypes and creating a rich social fabric across borders. During their time here, volunteers tend to create meaningful relationships with local people, from the Center staff to the shopkeepers of Ein Sara Street to the children at the Al Fawwar refugee camp. These connections are beneficial for locals and internationals alike. 

The Ripple Effect of Volunteering

Coming to volunteer in Palestine might feel like a very personal thing to do, but the ripple effects of time spent here can easily become waves of impact. 

Through their experiences in the West Bank, volunteers often inspire their friends, family, and wider communities to get further involved and support the Palestinian cause. Even small actions from volunteers can lead to much larger movements for awareness and advocacy. 

In 2024, a volunteer from Ireland named Stephen came to spend time at Engage in Palestine, inspired by his country’s solidarity with the Palestinian cause. Over the last year, he has spent time setting up two Gaelic football teams in Ramallah and Jenin, with a view to starting another in Hebron. As a result of his time volunteering in Palestine, Stephen is now using sports as a tool for change, helping to bring people together in the community. 

Many other people either continue or increase their advocacy at home with a renewed sense of purpose and a deeper understanding of the reality on the ground. This can take the form of online advocacy on their own platforms, speaking with family and friends about their experiences, or speaking with local media outlets. 

Collective action is powerful. The more people are thinking about and speaking about Palestine, the more potential there is for change. 

Real-Life Stories of Impact

Qatada was 16 years old when he started English classes at Engage in Palestine. He was really interested in learning the ‘world’s language’ because it would help him connect with different people and open up more opportunities for his future. However, other than a few words he’d picked up at school, he was essentially starting from scratch. 

Qatada’s first teachers, Mr. Ibrahim and Mr. Isaac, helped to lay a strong foundation and build vocabulary. The combination of great teachers and a real desire to learn meant that he improved quickly. Qatada completed his intermediate level English with a Centre volunteer from the United States. He found that learning from a native speaker really helped take his spoken English to the next level. 

Now 20 years old, Qatada is close to fluent in English. Although he no longer needs to take classes, he’s still seen around the Center most days, where he volunteers in addition to his University studies. Qatada helps new international volunteers settle in and get acquainted with Hebron city, teaching them about the local culture and history (and sometimes helping with their Arabic homework). In the future, he hopes to travel to Europe and see more of the world. 

For Qatada, spending time with Engage in Palestine has been an incredibly valuable experience. It gave him the opportunity to meet lots of new people, learn about new religions and new cultures, and open his mind to the world outside his home city of Hebron. Interacting with people from diverse backgrounds also taught him to be more respectful of differences.  

Qatada’s story is just one of the many stories of youth, women, and refugees that benefit from the activities of Engage in Palestine. 

While the activities of the Center make a significant impact on the local community, our international volunteers also gain a lot of value from their time in the West Bank. They often talk about their experience in Palestine as changing their lives and shifting their perspectives. Alicia, a 27-year-old volunteer from the United States who spent time in Palestine in 2024, reflects on her time there: 

“My overall experience at Engage in Palestine was so wonderful that I can’t wait to come back next year! Marwa and Osama feel like my family now, and I am excited to try to come back and do some ride-along work with the photojournalists I have been introduced to. Palestine was all I thought about for the year and some change before I came to volunteer, and now Palestine fills my heart as well as my mind.”

6 Impactful Volunteer Programs in Palestine 2025/2026

Our 6 Impactful Volunteer Programs in Palestine 2025/2026 are ideal for students and people looking for summer volunteer and internship programs in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Palestine, Israel, or the Middle East.

Here you may find the list of 6 Impactful Volunteer Programs in Palestine 2025/2026:  

1. Volunteer with Palestinian Refugees

Throughout the Palestinian Refugees Volunteer Program, you will work directly with Palestinian refugees in the city of Hebron, West Bank. Volunteers will have the opportunity to work with Palestinian women, children, and youths in order to enhance each other’s skills, create mutual understanding, engage in language exchange, and make a difference in each other’s lives. Volunteers will also have the chance to stay with a Palestinian host family, study colloquial Arabic, live the Palestinian daily life, and experience Palestinian culture and politics. 

The Palestinian schools in the refugee camps are underdeveloped and lack many of the basic resources to fulfill their students’ educational needs. The main purpose of bringing volunteers to Hebron is so that refugees can gain skills that might otherwise be out of reach for them. This can be done through teaching English and in many other ways. You can help genuinely impact students’ lives with your time and volunteering.

2. Internship with Palestinian Children

Internship with Palestinian Children: This program offers an excellent opportunity for graduate and undergraduate students, professionals, retirees, social workers, and teachers interested in volunteering with Palestinian children. It is also ideal for both native and non-native English speakers who wish to gain experience working with children in Palestine. Those interested in childhood education will especially benefit from this hands-on experience. Interns will fully immerse in Palestinian culture, daily life, politics, the human rights situation, and the educational system, providing a unique and enriching perspective on the region.

Interns in Palestine can join our program for the period of time that best suits them, anything from 1-13 weeks in duration. They can come any time of the year as we are flexible regarding starting and ending dates. People of all backgrounds and nationalities are welcome to apply, the only condition being that you must be at least 18 years old to join.

3. Volunteer With Palestinian Communities

Volunteer in Palestinian Communities: This program offers an excellent opportunity for individuals of all ages, from students to retirees, to work directly with Palestinian communities in villages and rural areas of the West Bank, including Dura and the Hebron Hills, such as Masafer Yatta, Susya, Umm Al-Khayr, the Al-Fawwar refugee camp, and Bani Na’im. Volunteers will collaborate with Palestinian children, youth, women, and refugees to enhance their skills and participate in educational and recreational activities.

Volunteers will also learn Arabic to communicate with the locals and visit sites of Palestinian cultural and historical significance in and around Hebron. This program is a great opportunity to deepen their understanding of daily life in Palestinian communities, security challenges, and resilience under occupation.

4. Human Rights Volunteer Program in Palestine

The Human Rights Volunteer Program in Palestine is designed to introduce the subject of Palestinian human rights in an environment that will help you grow personally and professionally. This human rights volunteer opportunity in the West Bank is great for those interested in gaining experience in humanitarian aid, Palestinian refugees, diplomacy, political science, and international law while building their Arabic language skills and intercultural competency.

Additionally, you will visit human rights organizations, Palestinian refugee camps, and Palestinian community centers and attend meetings with human rights activists, workers, law teachers, students, and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs). Participants of this program will be working to raise awareness of the situation in the West Bank while also giving voice to local communities. The interns will be at the forefront of relationship-building between international visitors and locals.

5. Teach English And Study Arabic

The Teach English and Study Arabic in Palestine Program is designed for students, native and non-native English speakers, graduates, professionals, and retirees seeking teaching opportunities in the West Bank, Palestine, Israel, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, and the broader Arabic-speaking world.

This program offers the unique chance to live in Hebron, Palestine, meet diverse people, and contribute to the local community by volunteering to teach English to Palestinian children, youth, and community members. During the internship, you will also have the opportunity to study Levantine or Palestinian Arabic, enhancing your cultural immersion experience.

6. Community Development Volunteer Program

The Community Development Program through Engage in Palestine offers a unique opportunity to engage with the Palestinian community by working with local organizations. This program is ideal for those who wish to support Palestinian children, women, youth, and refugees in camps, as well as other community members in and around Hebron, West Bank.

Engage in Palestine is now accepting applications for its Community Development Volunteer Program in Palestine for 2025/2026. This program focuses on supporting Palestinian youth, children, refugees, and women. It offers an excellent opportunity for individuals looking to volunteer in Gaza or the West Bank, allowing them to make a meaningful impact in local Palestinian communities.

Why Volunteering in Palestine Matters Now

2025 will be a pivotal year for the future of Palestine and the Palestinian cause. Already, events like the ceasefire in Gaza and the change of leadership in the United States are impacting security in the West Bank and increasing the need for additional support from volunteers. Many programs are available to suit all backgrounds and levels of experience and address critical gaps across Palestinian communities. 

Importantly, international solidarity with the Palestinian cause has never been more necessary. This is your invitation to look beyond the headlines and join our community, hear stories directly from local people, and witness Palestinian resilience firsthand. 

To express your interest in volunteering with Engage in Palestine today, please email info@ecpalestine.org.

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