—Pope Leo XIV, Angelus prayer, 16 August 2026
Tell Congress to move against Israeli violence in West Bank
Palestinians in the West Bank have been under siege in their own ancestral homeland for generations, and violence against them has skyrocketed in recent months. While media attention had been focused on Gaza, illegal settlements are constantly being built outside the boundaries of Israel, colonizing Palestinian lands, demolishing family homes and life-sustaining infrastructure, and razing centuries-old livelihoods like olive groves. These encroachments take place with tacit consent and active involvement of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF).
The United States provides extraordinary amounts of military support to the IDF, and before the Congressional recess, the House passed a bill that includes language, in effect, calling for a merger of functions of the U.S. and Israeli militaries. This support has been provided despite the genocide taking place openly in Gaza, international outcry at the illegal settlements in the West Bank, and the murder of at least nine U.S. citizens by the IDF in the past four years. UN data from late July show that 1,380 attacks have been carried out by extremist settlers in 2026 alone. U.S. law requires that Israel comply with humanitarian law to be a recipient of military aid, but Congress must speak up to require compliance.
Please use the draft email in the grey box at right (below on mobile devices) to urge your representative to speak out with demands to limit Israeli abuses and to urge you senators to support Senator Van Hollen’s new resolution demanding a report from the State Department on Israel’s humanitarian policies or lack thereof.
Background
From Churches for Middle East Peace, of which the Mercy Justice Team is a member:
Since October 7th, 2023, settler violence in the West Bank has only increased. As the world focused on Israel’s bombardment of Gaza, settler organizations and individuals saw an opportunity for expanding illegal settlements in the West Bank. This campaign of violent exclusion has grown more active with time, emboldened by the Israeli government’s support for settler expansion. The last six months have seen this violence reach new heights, with an average of three Palestinians injured by settler attacks a day so far in 2026.
Israeli settlers have threatened, harassed, and viciously attacked Palestinians on land they want to settle, creating an environment of constant intimidation. Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers also participate in much of this violence, with two Palestinians shot dead by IDF soldiers involved in a settler raid in mid-July. These types of crimes are almost never prosecuted by Israeli military courts. Most concerningly, this violence sometimes evolves into mob attacks on entire communities, with 20 Palestinian villages attacked at once on March 21 of this year. Illegal settlements are not just limiting Palestinian access to important land but actively threatening their safety.
Over four thousand Palestinians have been displaced from their homes since October 7th, 2023, with tens of thousands more facing restrictions on their development and infrastructure. For example, the E-1 settlement project aims to create over three thousand new settlement units in a corridor of Palestinian land in East Jerusalem. Similar settlement drives exist for other major Palestinian cities like Bethlehem and Hebron, dividing neighborhoods into a maze of security checkpoints and walls. Combined with the physical violence West Bank residents contend with every day, these settlement drives are creating a future where Palestinians are excluded from the only home they have.
The prophet Isaiah cautioned against coveting the lands and homes of one’s neighbors: “Doom to those who acquire house after house, who annex field to field until there is no more space left and only you live alone in the land” (Isaiah 5:8). Take action with Churches for Middle East Peace to help protect Palestinians of all faiths in the West Bank.
Additional Resources:
IDF accused of working with settlers after latest deadly West Bank raid | West Bank | The Guardian
Under Threat: The Struggle of Christians in the Holy Land
Settler attacks threaten the West Bank’s final Christian village