Once a year, activists from Belgium join a solidarity trip to Palestine at the invitation of Viva Salud, bringing students, trade unionists, and movement organizers to the occupied territories to witness the impacts of the Israeli occupation firsthand. This year, half a dozen activists spent a week in the West Bank, learning from local organizations and observing how the situation has further deteriorated since October 7, 2023.
“In Jerusalem, for example, you can no longer find the word ‘Palestine,’” one of the activists, Victor, told Peoples Dispatch. Two years ago, during a previous visit, shops sold souvenirs such as tote bags, postcards, and “Visit Palestine” posters. “I went to all the same tourist stores, and not a single one had them anymore,” they said. “Even the Palestinian colors are hard to find – the word ‘Palestine’ has completely disappeared from Jerusalem.”
While visiting organizations across the West Bank, the activists encountered hundreds of new checkpoints introduced since the start of the genocide in Gaza. These restrictions force Palestinians to wait in line for hours to travel just a few kilometers. “We had armed soldiers board our bus, checking us, and pointing their guns at us,” the group recalled.
The activists were particularly struck by the arbitrary and casual nature of the Israeli forces’ control. “It’s all random,” Victor explained. “If they want to open the gates, they do. If they want to shut them and inspect every car passing by, they can.”
Since October 2023, these mushrooming checkpoints have had an even more devastating impact on everyday life than before. “Ambulances are stopped,” the activists warned. “Women in labor are giving birth at checkpoints, people are dying in ambulances stuck at roadblocks near hospitals.”
Health and civil society under assault
Israeli obstructions to medical transport have particularly affected some of the organizations the group visited, including the Health Work Committees (HWC). Once operating dozens of health centers and mobile clinics, HWC was targeted in a coordinated campaign by Israeli forces a few years ago. Its former director, nurse Shatha Odeh, spent nearly a year in prison, and the organization was labeled a terrorist group. Despite losing much of its staff and funding, and being forced to coordinate from a warehouse – its Ramallah headquarters still sealed – HWC continues to provide much needed health care in the West Bank.
Watch: 11 months in Israeli prison: Shatha Odeh’s struggle for basic rights
Staff at the Bisan Center for Research and Development, another organization the delegation visited, face similar repression and settler violence daily. Yet they still manage to maintain partnerships with dozens of grassroots groups focused on agriculture, labor rights, and women’s rights. This network enabled activists not only to learn about Palestinian history and organizing but also to hear which advocacy priorities are most pressing from the local point of view.
Priorities for international solidarity initiatives
One issue that stood out, according to Victor, was recognition of the state of Palestine. While many in the global solidarity movement consider state recognition a symbolic move, local organizers emphasized its importance. “Once you recognize the state of Palestine, you also recognize the Palestinian people – a people with rights – and that’s a discourse somewhat missing in Europe,” Victor noted.
Still, activists warn that Western governments could turn recognition into a trap, for instance, by making it dependent on the elimination of Hamas, an impossible demand. Because of this, they argue that international campaigns for Palestinian statehood must insist on unconditional recognition, while also pressuring governments and institutions on other topics.
Among these priorities is the demand to cut all economic and trade ties with Israel, including suspending the EU-Israel Association Agreement. “This is about stripping Israel of its economic benefits, kind of stopping the war machine,” said Victor. “They rely heavily on imports from the EU, so ending these ties would crack down on their economy and could force the war machine to tone it down or, hopefully, even stop.”
Dismantling such agreements will require a coordinated strategy: mass mobilization, political lobbying, and legal action. While complex, these efforts seem to be gaining traction. Even EU governments not aligned with the Palestinian cause have allowed for the possibility of revisiting the agreement on the basis of human rights infringements.
The road ahead is long, and as Western governments continue to support Israel’s genocidal war, Palestinians are losing faith in international institutions, the group witnessed. “I think they’ve completely lost trust in the international community and the promise of international law,” Victor said. “They’ve been crying out for help for so long, and we’ve done the bare minimum, if even that.”
Yet, despite the disillusionment, hope seems to persist. “They still have some hope that in the end, we will be victorious and that the system will collapse from within,” the activists said. Global mobilization and solidarity are at least partially responsible for keeping this hope alive, making it even more important for solidarity initiatives to persevere. “People across the world are starting to realize that what is happening is not okay, and recognizing that we have the power to challenge our governments on it and push for change,” Victor concluded.
