We will not be prevented from returning to Beit Sahour, or to other places across the West Bank where Palestinians like Elias are being threatened, attacked or pushed from their land. We will continue to go as Palestinians and Israelis together, and we will continue to respond to violence without becoming violent ourselves.

This year marks 20 years since Combatants for Peace was founded, after the violence of the Second Intifada had engulfed both our societies. Our founders had participated in that violence, lived through its consequences and lost people to it. They ultimately made the decision to reject violence and work together to change the reality around them.

That decision is as relevant today as it was 20 years ago. What happened in Beit Sahour is part of a much bigger assault on Palestinian rights, with armed settler terrorism being used to drive Palestinians from their land while communities are left without meaningful protection or accountability. This is how forced displacement and ethnic cleansing take hold: people are threatened, attacked and denied access to their own land until staying becomes impossible. We must all demand accountability for these attacks, justice for Palestinian communities, and an end to the occupation that allows this reality to continue.

We only have four days left of our Summer Campaign 'Emergency Assistance, Shared Resistance' and have raised 77% of our goal. Thank you so much to everyone that has supported us already.

Help us reach 100% and keep our activists where they are needed - from Beit Sahour to Sinjil to Qusra, and wherever we are called to next.

Please donate today.