For over a year now, Israel has been intensifying its military assaults on Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, from mass killings to attacks on healthcare workers, mass arrests, forced displacement, home demolitions, and military airstrikes.
In our latest visual, we bring attention to the ongoing violence the Israeli military and settlers have inflicted on Palestinians in the West Bank over the past 16 months.
On January 19, the Israeli army invaded and laid siege to Jenin refugee camp. The siege is part of a wider military offensive that Israel is carrying out across the northern West Bank. This offensive has led to the displacement of more than 40,000 Palestinians residing in the refugee camps of Jenin, Tulkarem, Nur Shams, and El Far’a, and represents the highest number of Palestinians displaced in the West Bank since 1967.
Each year surpasses the last in becoming the deadliest year for Palestinians as Israeli violence intensifies with impunity in the West Bank. With Israel’s accelerating annexation and settlement expansion, Palestinians face unrelenting and ongoing assaults on their land, homes, and lives. The Israeli government’s policies, backed by military force, settler violence, and unwavering U.S. support, have created a reality in which Palestinians are constantly struggling against erasure.
We know the reality is dim, but now is not the time for silence. Now is the time to speak up, to educate, and to challenge injustice. In the words of Toni Morrison, “There is no time for despair, no place for self-pity, no need for silence, no room for fear. We speak, we write, we do language. That is how civilizations heal.”