Join us in putting an end to illegal settlement expansion in the West Bank
While the world is watching the horrors and devastation of the genocide in Gaza during the so-called ceasefire, another crime against humanity – “the silent genocide” – is unfolding in the West Bank.
Although there has been little in the news and on our screens, Palestinians in the West Bank are facing dispossession, mass displacement and an escalation of violence by settlers and the Israeli military, part of Israel’s strategy to annex their land, erase Palestinian way of life and extinguish any hope for a Palestinian state.
The sharp escalation in settler violence in the West Bank in 2025 has been well documented. These attacks include assaults, destruction of property and intimidation, often carried out with impunity. Human Rights Watch has already documented forced displacement of Palestinian families, describing the situation as a crime against humanity.
Dr. Elias Iseed, the Mayor of Beit Sahour, a town east of Bethlehem, urges the international community to take immediate action against the illegal settlement now in development in his town.
A recent report released by United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) provides the following updates on the Humanitarian Situation in the West Bank (January 1 to December 1, 2025):
- 227 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces or settlers.
- Over 95,000 Palestinians were affected by expanded operations by Israeli forces in the northern West Bank, particularly in Jenin and Tubas governorates.
- 1,680 documented attacks by Israeli settlers in more than 270 communities across the West Bank so far in 2025 – an average of five incidents per day.
Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME) writes: “Israel is moving forward with its plan to cut off occupied East Jerusalem from the rest of the West Bank. This is not a planning dispute or a technical issue – it is a calculated strategy to destroy the possibility of a Palestinian state and to permanently entrench apartheid. It is a direct assault on international law and on the very idea of justice.”
In a landmark ruling in July 2024, the International Court of Justice determined that the settlements are illegal, must be dismantled immediately and all settlers removed from East Jerusalem and the West Bank.
KAIROS Palestine - A Moment of Truth: Faith in a Time of Genocide
A group of Canadians recently returned from a two-week visit to Palestine. Along with representatives from 23 countries, the group travelled through the illegally occupied West Bank and saw devastating evidence of existential threats to Palestinian communities. They heard Palestinians’ fear and desperation that Palestine may cease to exist as their home. The Delegates attended the annual conference of Kairos Palestine and the release of the document, Kairos Palestine 2: A Moment of Truth: Faith in a Time of Genocide.
The delegates write:
“The new document represents the call and the cry of Palestinian Christians, living in a time of genocide, ethnic cleansing and forced displacement. It details the catastrophic assault that Israel has inflicted on Gaza, even while in the West Bank, Israel carries out the confiscation of land, the expansion of illegal settlements and outposts, the unchecked violence inflicted by settlers, the multiplication of checkpoints and other restrictions. Palestinian existence has become “a living hell.”
KAIROS Canada has also heard this call from Palestinian partners and Canadian colleagues.
Please take a minute to write to your Member of Parliament calling on Canada to:
- Reaffirm its conviction and policy regarding the illegality of settlements and outposts in the West Bank under international law,
- Expand its existing sanctions on settler violence in the West Bank to include sanctions on the State of Israel,
- Condemn Israel’s annexation plans, land theft and violent displacement and dispossession of Palestinians in the West Bank as illegal under international law and a deliberate strategy to undermine a Palestinian state, now recognized by Canada.
Write to your Member of Parliament today!
