Palestinian families across the occupied West Bank are being driven from their homes and land by Israeli settler violence and expanding settlements. Armed Israeli settlers attack residents, burn homes and crops, steal livestock, and destroy water systems, stripping families of both safety and the means to sustain themselves. Israeli soldiers protect settlers, stand by during attacks, and, in documented cases, participate in violence and displacement. Together with home demolitions and restrictions on movement, these actions are uprooting Palestinian communities, enabling the takeover of their land, and undermining the possibility of a just and lasting peace.

Between September 15 and 21, 2026, the United Nations documented 51 settler attacks resulting in Palestinian casualties, property damage, or both. At least 800 olive, fruit, and palm trees were damaged, uprooted, or burned. Settlers also damaged irrigation pipelines, punctured water tanks used by herding families, and vandalized electricity infrastructure. These attacks deprive families of income and basic services while increasing pressure on them to leave their homes and land.

The planned E1 settlement expansion east of Jerusalem poses a particularly grave threat. Israel has approved 3,401 housing units between East Jerusalem and the Ma’ale Adumim settlement. The project would further fragment Palestinian territory and deepen the separation of Palestinian communities from one another and from East Jerusalem. Approximately 4,000 Palestinians in 18 nearby Bedouin and herding communities face the risk of forced displacement.

The General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has called for an end to settlement expansion and Palestinian dispossession. In 2022, the General Assembly recognized that the Israeli government’s laws, policies, and practices regarding Palestinians fulfill the international legal definition of apartheid. It’s important for Presbyterians to turn these General Assembly commitments into action by speaking out for Palestinian rights.

Palestinian families deserve to live safely in their homes, cultivate their land, and build a future in freedom. A just peace must uphold the rights and security of Palestinians and Israelis alike. Congress has a responsibility to ensure that U.S. policy does not enable dispossession and settlement expansion.

Urge your senators and representative to support two bills that would impose meaningful consequences on those who carry out and support settlement expansion:

• S. 5476 — Sanctions on E1 settlement construction: Introduced by Senator Chris Coons and Senate colleagues, this bill would require sanctions on foreign individuals and entities involved in E1 settlement construction, financing, supporting infrastructure, and the transfer of Israeli civilians into E1 settlements.
• H.R. 10642 — Stop the Settlements Act: Introduced by Representative Joaquin Castro, this bill would impose sanctions for specified activities supporting Israeli settlement construction and expansion in the West Bank or Gaza. It would also prohibit U.S. imports of goods produced in Israeli settlements and outposts.
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Contact Congress today. Ask your senators to cosponsor S. 5476 and your representative to cosponsor H.R. 10642, and urge them to press for passage. Palestinian communities need protection from violence and displacement now. These bills offer concrete steps toward accountability and a just and lasting peace.