Resisting is everything for people trapped in the cycle of destruction, reconstruction, and destruction again. Resistance determines who they are and what they do. If they want to keep living, they must first resist. Any aspiration they have is secondary. In the Middle East, the most militarized region in the world, millions of people wake up every morning with the goal of resisting. The strongest and best-armed set the level of endurance that the rest must reach. Political, social, and economic relations are determined by this hierarchy of resistance.
Read more Polvorines
We have come to Taibe to witness how a small Palestinian and Christian community of 1,200 inhabitants survives the constant siege by Israeli settlers and soldiers.
“The situation today is much worse than during the second intifada,” says a community leader
The new settlers, young and armed people, have occupied the olive groves and cut the vines of the vineyards. Shielded by a messianic discourse, they steal livestock and commit acts of vandalism. This harassment, which is widespread in the rural areas of the West Bank, has lasted for three years and aims at the forced eviction of the population.
New settlements have surged since the Hamas attacks on October 7, 2023. The United Nations states that since the beginning of the year Israel has approved 12,360 housing units.
The siege on Palestinian populations tightens even more if outposts are included: various settlers establish small enclaves surrounded by barbed wire and watchtowers. From there they enter nearby fields and villages. They beat those who stand up to them. They burn houses and vehicles. They destroy crops. More than a thousand Palestinians have died in these clashes since the massacre of October 7.
At the Taibe Town Hall, we find several community leaders who, in exchange for maintaining their anonymity, confess that the situation is desperate. “It is much worse than during the second intifada,” says one of them referring to the uprising against the Israeli occupation between 2000 and 2005. “Back then they did not confiscate land or steal livestock,” recalls another.
The settlers have planted the Israeli flag in seven camps around Taibe. Every day they organize an assault. The inhabitants warn each other through WhatsApp or Telegram groups. They urge neighbors to flee to avoid any direct confrontation. The Israeli government considers that this coordination—common in many communities—demonstrates the terrorist intentions of the local population.
“We do it to take shelter,” a father from Taibe tells us. “We try to survive without being killed. That’s all. We are very few and cannot lose anyone. Thank God, so far we have no martyrs.”
“We know we cannot respond with violence,” he adds. “Even if they occupy our fields, we do not intervene. Even if they burn them, we do not intervene. If we did, they would crush us.”
Resistance, in these cases, is also resignation. Many Palestinians privately admit they are afraid. They fear that an incident could ignite all of the West Bank.
This fear is shared by many secular Israelis, especially in the metropolitan area of Tel Aviv.
No one forgets the thousands of deaths from the two intifadas and they do not want their children to pay with their blood for a third.
Jack-Nobel Abed, archbishop of the Melkite church of the parish of Saint George in Taibe, prays that no one else dies.
Read more The maze of minor migrants
“We must follow Gandhi’s example,” he tells us in his living room. “Peaceful resistance and prayer. There is no other alternative. We fight with words.”
Father Abed’s living room is spacious. Every Sunday, after mass, he meets here with his parishioners. They encourage each other. The liturgy comforts them. The talks help them maintain dignity. “The settlers and soldiers humiliate us,” he explains. “They treat us like animals. They want us dead, but we resist. Jesus teaches us to accept sacrifice.”
Nadim Khoury resists with more than words and the WhatsApp alert group. He does so with his work leading Taibeh, his brewery company. “I make the first beer of Palestine,” he says proudly. “And I also make wine, gin, whiskey, and oil.”
We are surrounded by bottles and stainless steel tanks. Khoury explains that he uses them more to store water than beer because “the settlers attack the wells. They want to kill us of thirst and we have to store as much water as we can.”
The company is going through serious difficulties. Israel puts all kinds of barriers so it cannot import barley and hops. Exporting is also almost impossible.
Israel strangles the Palestinian economy. It controls everything that enters and leaves the West Bank, both people and goods. Since October 7, it has prevented workers from entering and unemployment has risen from 12% to 28%. It also hinders financial operations and withholds billions of dollars in taxes it collects and should deliver to the Ramallah authorities.
Beer has become Khoury’s form of resistance, who learned the trade in Boston. He is a born entrepreneur, a CEO who speaks with the energy of a field marshal.
We are alone in the factory, but he speaks as if we were a crowd, a troop to whom he transmits the necessary optimism to resist. “Did you know that taibeh means delicious in Arabic? And have you noticed the beer label? There is a sun. The big bright sun that illuminates the future of Palestine.”
Of all the Taibeh beers he produces, he confesses that his favorite is the White because it is made with Palestinian grains and has a touch of Jericho oranges.
The faith Khoury draws in each of his bottles also shines in Father Abed’s Bible. The book rests on a lectern next to his armchair in the living room. It is the great reference. Many of his answers start with this phrase: “According to the teachings of the book…”
We ask him about the passage displayed. It is the resurrection of Lazarus according to Saint John and he reads it in an ancient and melodic Arabic. He is convinced that Palestine will also rise again. Faith, for him, as for many Jews and Muslims, is the first pillar of reconstruction.
Read more Feijóo wants to expel those who entered Ceuta and rejects Rabat’s blackmail
