Israeli policies pose existential threat to Palestinians in the West Bank. Why not more resistance?
Aftermath of Israeli settlers attacks on the Rahwa area in the town of Sa’ir, northeast of Hebron, 30 March 2026
Qassam Muaddi writes in Mondoweiss on 31 March 2026:
Palestinian life is being slowly but systematically eroded in the West Bank.
It has gotten to the point that the continued existence of Palestinians on their land is now legitimately called into question, but this basic fact doesn’t seem to carry any weight for Palestinians in their daily lives, running contrary to the predictions of Israeli security officials that there would be an “explosion” among Palestinians in the West Bank during Ramadan. In recent years, the holy month has historically been a flashpoint period for Palestinian protest, given the intensification of Israeli restrictions on worshippers at the al-Aqsa Mosque compound. Yet Ramadan came and went, and Israel not only continued to impose restrictions on but ramped them up under the pretext of “safety” measures amid the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran.
For the first time in centuries, Muslim worshippers were unable to attend Eid prayers at al-Aqsa, and the Palestinian street remained silent.
Life in the West Bank under occupation is far different today from how it was even a year ago. The sense of uneasy normalcy that used to pervade daily life has been rendered completely untenable as Palestinians are robbed of any sense of safety amid renewed waves of Israeli settler rampages, claiming the lives of seven Palestinians just last week and raising the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces or settlers to 23 since the beginning of the year. The regularity of these attacks has pushed Palestinians into a daily rhythm of weighing personal safety against the need to carry on with their lives before even considering stepping out of their doors.
Over 900 checkpoints, gates, and roadblocks have turned entire towns into caged enclaves (sometimes literally), while a surge of home demolitions by Israeli forces reached 300 demolished homes in the first month and a half of 2026. All this occurs alongside the explicit Israeli policy goal of “burying” a Palestinian state, as articulated by hardline Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who advocates for “encouraging emigration” and formalizing the annexation of vast parts of the West Bank to Israel.