A call from people in the West Bank, people trying to hold a press conference in Jenin and they weren’t able to hold a press conference. What follows is an attempt to uplift these voices that have been silenced.

What we have been seeing, the devastation in Gaza has moved to the West Bank, and that’s we’ve been seeing in the last two weeks.

29^th of Sept prayer and ask the Lord to give strength to fight back. I hope the Western people know this is an ethnic cleansing. It’s not Muslims or Jews but the Zionist system fighting people (Alice Kisiya).

Everything is going rapidly in the West Bank, not since Oct 7. They call the West Bank the Settler West Bank. The settlers are protected by the govnt. There is a blockade not only in the West Bank but also in specific areas. The economy depends on interaction with Palestinians in Israel—there is no access. Insecurity, lack of security, lack of rule of law. There is no ability for the Palestinian Authority to work there. There is no ability for Palestinian polis and institutions to work. 750 checkpoints in the West Bank in general. Can’t visit city Jenin, for the last year, three times. Don’t know what will happen the next hour or even next minute from Israeli settlers. No honor for international law. Using infrastructure as a weapon, a collective punishment for the people. Palestinians need more pressures to force Israel to go to a political solution.

Systematic targeting of universities. In the West Bank, the security solution is challenging. Students are not guaranteed that they can reach the university. Many universities have been forced to work online. Students will try to go through the check point but on the way back it is closed. Prioty for people is to live now, so low enrollment in Palestinian universities. This is the worst economic crisis that the West Bank has faced. They are in the situation of the de-devolopment of the education system in Palestine. They haven’t always been able to start schools on time because of security problems. The exams are struggling to be held.

From Omar Haramy—Palestinian Christian Liberation Nonviolence (Friends of Sabeel):

On one of the delegations the most shocking scenes was in the Jordan Valley, there was a Bedouin community packing and leaving and abandoning the Jordan Valley and their land, to go closer to the West Bank, since the settlers have come, the children have been in the hospital due to dehydration. When there is an international presence, we have thought that protective presence has helped, and since Oct 7 there have been courageous people who have come. Many of these groups are religious. Everybody sees things in a different way, but there is a lot of fear, anger, and frustration. There is a sad feeling of a loss of hope. Uncertainty. You can also see and feel violence and settlers, with guns, moving around. You see the army bullying people. In Palestine there are different kinds of people, just like any community. In Palestine people are trying to leave the country, it is unbearable to wake up to an unpredictable life. People have lost hope in the international community. You see some Palestinians who are collaborating with the occupation. You see people who are disconnected from reality, who see that they are living in Palestine as if they in London or Los Angeles. Some are resisting. People resist in different ways. We believe that nonviolence, and we believe that nonviolence is the only legitimate tool. The international system is broken, the US can veto everything. You find a world that does not respect human life, who believe that the only way to deal with enemies. You do not see a country that adheres to international law. Settlers are getting a permit and a license to kill and permission to demolish. There are many things that you can see and many things that you cannot see.

Treating trauma is a luxury. The US is not even respecting their own laws. We are disappearing and being broken. We are being forced that the only way to see America is as an enemy, as an enemy that you cannot live with or find a space for reconciliation. People are being burned alive. You give a standing ovation to a president who is trying to legitimize rape of Palestinian prisoners. The empire needs to repent.