Christian Palestinians fight to reclaim their UNESCO-listed land seized by Israeli settlers

On July 31, Israeli settlers - escorted by soldiers with the Israeli Civil Administration, the military body governing the occupied West Bank - raided the Kisiya family’s land in Al-Makhrour, a lush valley near Bethlehem, and forcibly evicted the Christian Palestinian family.

On the day of the eviction, the Israeli army had declared an area adjacent to the Kisiya land a closed military zone. While their land wasn’t included in the order, the army used it to bar the family from accessing it.

Community Peacemaker Teams, and international organisation, said that the Kisiya family, who have French and Israeli citizenship, have the necessary legal documents from the Civil Administration to prove they legally own the land targetted by settlers and are entitled to run a family restaurant on the site.

Following the seizure, the family set up a solidarity camp at the site and were joined by members of the Israeli-Palestinian group Combatants for Peace, which supported the family amid attacks by Israeli settlers and their detention by Israeli forces. The Kisiyas - along with their supporters - have also continuously returned to their land to demonstrate against the forced eviction and to try and reclaim their home. Alice Kisiya, who has inadvertently become the face of her family's plight, and her mother Michelle were arrested by Israeli forces on Sunday after conducting a sit-in on the land they own.

Michelle was subsequently freed and banned from returning to Al-Makhrour for 15 days while Alice was released on Monday. Meanwhile, Israeli officers had detained Alice's brother after he attempted to prevent the raid from Israeli settlers.

On August 14, far-right Israeli finance minister Bezalel Smotrich on August 14 approved the building of a new illegal settlement, named Nahal Heletz, on a UNESCO World Heritage Site near Bethlehem. In the announcement, Smotrich said that "no anti-Israeli and anti-Zionist decision will stop the development of settlements".