Challenges and Sumud in 2026

As the previous year, 2026 has been a challenging year for Palestinians. We feared for our lives during the war with Iran in February, and we are still watching a horrific genocide being committed in Gaza. The wars continue to impact our daily life, including demolition of homes, the closure of roads, and the restriction of access to crossings used by workers. Since the majority of the village’s residents rely on work inside the occupied territories, these measures severely affected household incomes and led to a significant deterioration in the local economy, resulting in increased unemployment.

Our village has a long history of house demolitions and land confiscation by the Israeli occupation. However, in recent months there has been a huge amount of pressure on Al-Walajah. This is occurring at the same time as a settler organization has increasingly been campaigning against us and our homes. In addition to that, the Israeli occupation has spread intimidating messages saying that many houses will be demolished in Al-Walajah. More than 75 families have received stop-work orders, which means that we are not allowed to continue construction or renovations.

Despite these challenges, we continue to implement community activities, and we continue to work at our wood workshop. We also offer cooking classes and tours in Al-Walajah, and hope to be able to receive you in our beautiful village. We remain steadfast and continue our work as Rweisat for Wood Art. To learn more about these initiatives, you can follow our updates on our website.