Victory against Israeli West Bank settlement offers Palestinians some hope
Alice Kisiya is now able to regain access to her family's land in the occupied West Bank village of al-Makhrour after a legal victory
For Alice Kisiya, a Palestinian Christian activist from Beit Jala in the occupied West Bank, this Christmas season is special.
On Tuesday, Kisiya was able, for the first time since 2019, to set foot on her family’s land in the Christian village of al-Makhrour after an Israeli court ruling in June eventually forced Israeli settlers to leave the land and dismantle an illegal outpost.
“This victory, which forced the settlers to dismantle their outpost in preparation for leaving for good, confirms to me that one must never tire of continuing the struggle, despite all the methods they used to pressure me and my family into leaving the land,” Kisiya told Al Jazeera.
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“The Israeli court ruling is very important, because it affirms my rights and ownership of the land and exposes the falsity of the occupation and settlers’ manipulation of property documents in an illegal manner, as they were forged for political and personal purposes,” Kisiya, who was arrested in 2024 for protesting settler land grabs, said.
Alice Kisiya, centre, confronts Israeli soldiers after they declared her family’s land a closed military area, in the West Bank town of Beit Jala, Friday, August 2, 2024
But despite her legal victory, Kisiya still does not stay on her land, fearing settler attacks and violence, which are commonplace in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
“The court ruling granted my family and me the right to return to the land, the house and the restaurant that were demolished by the occupation, but we are now avoiding a permanent presence because of settler violence, backed by the right-wing government and its ministers, Smotrich and Ben-Gvir,” she said, referring to Israeli Minister of Finance Bezalel Smotrich and Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir.
Kisiya, whose family home Israeli forces also demolished when she was a child, has become a symbol of resistance in her Christian community and among other Palestinians after years of leading a civil, legal and popular campaign to confront Israeli occupation policies and illegal settlement expansions.
https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2025/12/24/victory-against-israeli-west-bank-settlement-offers-palestinians-some-hope
Palestinian Christians worry about erasure as Israeli settlements grow
Christmas celebrations have returned to Bethlehem, but Palestinian Christians fear they are being erased by Israeli violence and settlement expansion. Al Jazeera’s Nida Ibrahim reports from Bethlehem, where illegal settlements are encroaching on the birthplace of Jesus.
https://www.aljazeera.com/video/newsfeed/2025/12/24/palestinian-christians-worry-about-erasure-as-israeli-settlements-grow
