Voices of the occupied West Bank: 'I'll keep speaking with love'

Occupied West Bank - In a continuation of Al Jazeera's conversations with people in the occupied West Bank about how they view the endless tragic news from the besieged and bombarded Gaza Strip and the realities of trying to make a life as a Palestinian under occupation, here are four Palestinians' stories:

A young Christian man bewildered at how the message of peace and forgiveness that was born with Christ in Palestine could be forgotten so cruelly.

A human rights defender whose life's work has been to protect the people of Palestine from the usurpation of their rights.

A father who wakes every day with dread because he is terrified that one of his children in Gaza has been killed overnight.

And a mother whose son made the ultimate sacrifice of his young life because he took the only path he thought he could to fight against injustice.

Note: Interviews have been edited for length and clarity.

“We are Palestinians.

“We’ve been here throughout history, Muslims, Jewish, or Christian… primary [our] identity is Palestinian.

“And although I am Palestinian Christian …  that doesn’t put me outside the scope of the Palestinian conflict. We don’t view religion as a driving force or a reason for me to defend my land or demand my rights.

“For me, religion is a way to contact God, while my right to exist in this land is my right as a Palestinian regardless of my religion.

“This is Jesus's land, this land where Christ preached, where Jesus came, and from it, Christianity emerged into the world.

“If we want to talk about it religiously, we as Christians are more connected to this land than anyone else, Muslims or Jews.

“But we don’t differentiate based on religion but rather on the basis of whether you believe in the right to live in freedom, peace, and happiness.

“The two things I love the most in the Bible are: ‘Love your enemies, bless those who curse you.’ God says even your enemy who wishes death to you and hates you, you must love him because through love you will teach him the right path.

“'But through violence, you will not teach him the right path. If you kill and he kills, the killing will continue. If you love, love will grow.'

“This sentence ... is glorious. It means you love someone who wishes death to you and wishes many unpleasant things for you.

“No matter our differences with the Israeli, I will continue to talk to him with love, affection, and peace.

“But that doesn’t mean he kills me and I stay silent. If he kills me, I must speak, yet my primary goal will not be to erase, kill, or eliminate him, as he does to me.”

"US officials, the administration, I can say they are helping and complicit in the war crimes taking place in Palestine. We’re killed by the American weapons.

“We’re killed and the Israelis enjoy impunity, because the Americans use a veto not to hold Israel accountable for its prolonged occupation and the atrocities taking place daily against Palestinians.

“Like killings of Palestinians. Like expanding the settlements or the colonies here. Like the land confiscation. Like the house demolitions. Like the pillaging of our natural resources ... like water, minerals, land, everything. The Israelis - they left nothing for us.

“Now many of the young generations of Americans are more aware of the situation than before. And because of that, I do believe that promise is coming from the US, even with this horrible situation.

“But our case, it didn’t start on October 7. Our case, it's now 75 years old.

“Half of our people are refugees all over the world. Eighty percent of the people in the Gaza Strip. Gaza is 360sq km (139sq miles). That’s 2.3 million people in a very small, densely packed place.

“At the same time, the Israelis, they’re attacking and killing civilians. And they declared since the beginning, they said: 'They are human animals,' just to dehumanise Palestinians first.

"And they said: 'We will cut water,' and they did. 'We will cut humanitarian assistance,' and they did.

“What can the Israelis gain except to plant more hate in the minds of Palestinian people? This will not bring peace. What will bring peace is if we enjoy our fundamental rights of self-determination.

“This is your product, the American product. But you are Israel's main supporter, without saying to your friend: 'Hey, guys, this isn't good and this isn't right.' Because if you are a real friend, you have to tell your friends to avoid committing wrongful acts. America, right now, they don't do this."

"This war is neither the first nor the last for me.

“I lost half my family in the 2014 war at al-Wehda Street near al-Shifa Hospital when more than 100 people were killed in one area.

“Innocent children were targeted by Israeli planes. They claimed there were tunnels under the houses. My mother was there, my brother's wife and my brother's children were killed.

“Each body I recovered was mutilated, each one was worse than the last. Some were decapitated…

"We’re in so much pain, unable to sleep, and haunted by nightmares. My children are suffering, and most of the time I prefer to turn off my phone to avoid talking to my children.

“They say: 'Dad, you used to be here with us before October 7.’ But I can’t, I hear my children dying, and I can’t do anything for them.

“This is not just my suffering, but all the young men here. You might hear every 20 or 30 years that you’ve lost your dearest friends, but here, every day, you’re losing the people dearest to you.

“And we are not responsible for this war. We are respectable workers, and our children are innocent. They have nothing to do with this matter. Israel targets those involved and those who aren’t. It seeks revenge on children.

“Why? It's either to wipe us out once and for all or to not let us grieve for one another. It's tough, as a father, to wake up and look at your phone to check in on your son only to find that he died, or hear that your wife passed away, or your brother.

“Give me one reason for any of our children to be involved in this barbaric act.

“I’m with you, Hamas killed hundreds of people on October 7, but you can’t annihilate an entire nation... you’re wiping out the entire country.”

"Qais was very kind-hearted and greatly affected by the things happening around him.

“All the young men here, when they saw what was happening in Al-Aqsa … those mothers and women being dragged by the Israelis, their hearts break and they feel powerless.

“When the Lions' Den appeared in Nablus and the Jenin Brigades in Jenin, the young men started to believe they now had the space to act.

“Of course, we didn’t know anything about it, we had no clue. He would tell us he was with his friends. We didn’t know he’d do what he did.

“Seeing young men martyred in Jenin, Nablus, and the assaults on Al-Aqsa, he couldn’t bear it. It was the final straw … God rest his soul. We haven’t received his body yet.

“Qais was the one who brought life into our home, him and his brother. He used to tease us and sometimes was stubborn, but our home was full.

“Now, we’re like dead bodies, there’s no more life in our home. If we had gotten his body from the beginning and buried him; it would be easier.

“All I think about is how Qais is, what he looks like, what they took out of his body, and what they left.

“Sometimes my husband comes and finds me frozen, my body so cold even if it’s warm, and he’ll cover me with blankets. But I can’t get warm. I say: 'Qais is frozen.'

“I know and, in our religion, we know, that the soul is with God, but… I don’t know. Mothers never want to bury their children, but in this situation, we’d prefer to be able to bury our sons.

“When he is buried, you can recite the Quran for him, visit his grave, and cry beside it.

“They want to torture families by detaining the martyrs' bodies … collective punishment for the families.”