Jocelyn Qassis / April 2026 Khallet Al-Nu’man, a small Palestinian village located east of Bethlehem, has become increasingly isolated in recent years due to movement restrictions, lack of services, and repeated settler attacks. The village is home to around 150 residents, including approximately 40 children. Although it was annexed by Israel in 1967 into what […]
Jocelyn Qassis / March 2026 Palm Sunday arrives this year under a sky heavy with uncertainty. In a region shaped by ongoing tension, the familiar sounds of celebration church bells, hymns, and processions feel more subdued. What is usually a day of public joy is now unfolding quietly, shaped by restriction and absence. In Jerusalem, […]
by Jocelyn Qassis , March 2026 Honouring the Women of Palestine and the Middle East on International Women’s Day In Palestine, the story of the land cannot be told without the women who have carried it across generations. They are the farmers who rise before sunrise to tend ancient olive groves. They are the teachers […]
by Jocelyn Qassis , March 2026 From Escalation to Entrenchment In the months following October 7, 2023, mobility across the West Bank tightened in ways that were immediately visible yet historically familiar. Entrances to Palestinian towns were sealed with earth mounds and metal gates. Flying checkpoints appeared without warning along major transport corridors linking northern […]
by Jocelyn Qassis , March 2026 “When they burned the hives, it wasn’t just honey we lost.” At sunrise in the hills south of Hebron, a beekeeper lifts the lid of a wooden hive. The air is sharp with thyme. Bees rise and settle in a controlled hum. Inside, order prevails: wax foundations, carefully formed […]
by Jocelyn Qassis – February 2026 – They did not leave all at once. They left slowly, until nothing was left. In conflicts shaped by headlines, numbers often blur into abstraction. Yet sometimes statistics point to something far more concrete: land that is no longer accessible, homes that no longer stand, and communities that no […]
A Reality Beyond the Headlines At 5:30 in the morning, the bulldozers arrive before the sun. In parts of the occupied West Bank — from the rural hills of Masafer Yatta to the divided streets of the old city of Hebron — families wake not to alarm clocks, but to demolition orders and military patrols. […]
As we move into 2026, we do so with clarity rather than illusion. The past year was marked by escalating state violence, intensifying settler attacks, forced displacement, and deepening political fragmentation. For many human rights defenders, 2025 was a year of growing isolation. But it was also a year defined by presence. In a moment […]
