San Angel We were lucky two months ago when two delegates from one of ACORN’s newest affiliates, only a year-old, had obtained visas to attend our annual organizers and leaders meeting in Brussels. The Palestinian Solidarity Coordinating Committee (PSCC) works in five communities on the West Bank. Given Israel’s tight control, getting a visa is a iffy last-minute affair, so even though a late reservation was pricey, we felt fortunate to finally introduce this affiliate and its leadership to so many of our staff and to have then participated in the meeting of the ACORN board.
It goes without saying, their work is hard and unforgiving. They shared stories of horrific events where families were attacked by settlers and lost their homes. Other stories focused on the lost of olive trees and orchards, tended by families for generations, that had been vandalized by settlers supported by Israeli troops. Livestock had been lost in the same way.
Published reports indicate that the Gaza war has led to a new level of impunity in these land grabs. The Times reported right before Christmas that,
Over the past two years, Israeli settlers have established a record number of new outposts in the occupied territory of the West Bank. The goal is to win on the ground what might otherwise be lost at a negotiating table.
Other sources are more specific saying that, “over the past two years, with 2024 and 2025 seeing an unprecedented surge of approximately 130 new outposts, surpassing the total built in the previous two decades.” All of what the leaders of the PSCC were reporting to us could be verified independently. At the same time, their reports almost seemed like a rearguard action by villagers in an occupied territory under military control raising voices of protest and appeal to pointed guns supporting violence and home invasions.
A hat was passed among the organizers, and they responded generously, raising more than $500 in euros, US and CN. We’ve done Zoom training via our English branch. One of our members there made the initial introductions, having spent time doing volunteer work on the West Bank. We do what we can do, but still, it’s frustrating and tragic to read the news.
Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu could stop this on a dime, but in trying to maintain power with his far-right coalition, he is enabling settler colonialism. Some pushback on US efforts, arguing that settler colonialism was a central part of US history, so who are we to take the high ground with them. President Trump has been an enabler of this horror. He met with Netanyahu over the Christmas holidays and rather than advancing his peace initiatives seems to have once again emboldened him and his allies.
We’re proud of our affiliate, but the situation is dire. It’s hard for all of us to confront the limits of our solidarity and support. A demand for peace and an end to the travesty in the West Bank is not anti-Israel; it is pro-human rights. When in the modern world did property rights lose their meaning?