Don't forget the West Bank

Students from Gaza attend the Get Speaking conference in Ramallah in July 2023

Yesterday, October 24, we opened a Zoom room for teachers across Palestine to join us and share their stories if they could. Nobody in Gaza had internet strong enough to connect but  teachers from the West Bank, a member of the Holy Land Trust and a Palestnian refugee living abroad  were all present.

All expressed their pain, their solidarity and their outrage at what is happening in Gaza and throughout the West Bank. Curfews, closed cities, a massive surge in arrests, opportunistic land grabs, closed schools and universities, total impunity for settler violence and killings. The desperation and anger were palpable in the room.  

Here are their messages: 

Nasra (nr. Qualqilya): We love life, we are peaceful. They are aggressive and violent, this is not the way. Is the world seeing what they are doing to the babies?  What would they say to the babies?

Mais (Hebron): The West Bank has less freedom than Gaza. They stop us to check our phones, we do not have freedom of expression, we are not allowed to post the truth on social media. They destroy what they want to, they come into our homes in the middle of the night, destroying phones and computers , making arrests. If we refer to their war crimes they arrest us and we go to prison. The settlers are always with their weapons, they have the green light to kill.

Lina (Nablus):  We go to bed not knowing whether we will be alive in the morning.