In the face of witnessing disturbing events in the West Bank, an activist found herself admiring the Palestinians for their “sumud” — “steadfast perseverance.”
Fewer than 24 hours after arriving in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, a Bellingham peace activist found herself being held at gunpoint by Israeli security forces.
It was November 2024, and 59-year-old Alison Post was among a group of international volunteers accompanying a Palestinian family from a village in the Nablus governorate to the nearby hilly fields, where they would provide the farmers with protective presence during the olive harvest.
Although episodes of violence, vandalism and theft committed by settlers have long been documented in the region, these assaults have grown in frequency and intensity in the aftermath of the Oct. 7 attacks carried out by Hamas, with the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs — OCHA — reporting 2,518 settler attacks between Jan. 1, 2024, and Aug. 31, 2025.
This spike in violence has also coincided with a surge of checkpoints and other obstacles placed by Israeli authorities across the West Bank, further limiting access to land that Palestinian farmers have owned for generations.
Before she joined Faz3a, one of the organizations mobilizing volunteers worldwide to support the harvest, Post had heard about the situation through the news, social media and firsthand accounts. As the arts administrator prepared to spend five weeks in a region under military occupation, she felt “terrified.”
But learning about violence and oppression from the safety of her home could not compare to the heart-pounding fear she felt at the first of many checkpoints she would later encounter on the road from the village, not knowing what was going to happen next when Israeli soldiers pointed their weapons towards the car and its occupants.
Nor could it compare to the feeling of watching a group of armed settlers walk into the property the Palestinian family had owned for generations, her commitment to nonviolence holding her back from physically intervening as the trespassers yelled and pushed the farmers away.
Hiding behind an olive tree, she filmed the settlers stomping on the hastily filled bags of olives, hoping the footage would eventually help raise awareness overseas.
Taking video or photo evidence, if safe enough to do so, may be helpful in discouraging settlers and soldiers from targeting Palestinians, Post said, adding that some of the footage can be — and has been — used in legal cases in Israeli courts. That is, if officers don’t get rid of any evidence by confiscating phones or deleting the footage.
When Israeli enforcers arrived at the scene of that tense encounter, they told the farmers and volunteers to leave. The group complied, loading the olives onto the backs of two donkeys and walking away from sight, she recalled. Though that harvest day had been brought to an abrupt and bitter end, Post was surprised to see the farmers talking and laughing as they enjoyed a meal and black coffee. That was just everyday life for them, she realized.
The following morning, Post and other volunteers were helping farmers from the village of Kafr al-Labad. After about 20 minutes of picking olives, an Israeli army vehicle drove by from a nearby settlement of Einav, ordering them to leave or be arrested.
Even though the group packed up and began walking right away, they were detained by four armed soldiers for about two hours. The soldiers demanded to see passports and forced the volunteers to delete photos and videos from their phones, Post recounted in a Power Point presentation she shared with Salish Current.
When the volunteers asked why they were being detained, the soldiers said they had already told the farmers to stay away from the property, Post said.
As disturbing as these events were to witness, particularly during her first few days in the West Bank, Post frequently found herself admiring the Palestinians for their “sumud” — an Arabic word that translates to “steadfast perseverance.”
“We will not give up another centimeter!” she recalled them saying on various occasions.
Spike in violence
As the United Nations and a growing number of international human rights groups — including at least two Israeli organizations — is calling Gaza’s humanitarian crisis a genocide, Palestinians in the West Bank are facing a different form of ethnic cleansing that Post said isn’t covered enough in the mainstream media.
Since Israel began its military occupation of the West Bank in 1967, thousands of settlers have been moving into the area thanks to favorable policies and investments from the government, which has announced its commitment to “advance and develop settlement in all parts of the land of Israel.”
On Sept. 11, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu signed an agreement to proceed with the construction of 3,400 homes that would cut off the West Bank from East Jerusalem. Along with the West Bank and Gaza, East Jerusalem would make up the Palestinian state, recognized by a majority of United Nations members. These do not include the United States, though President Donald Trump vowed in September not to allow Israel to annex the West Bank.
There are now roughly living in 300 Israeli settlements that are illegal under international law, and roughly 3.3 million Palestinians, over 39,000 of whom have been forcibly displaced since January 2024.
In July 2025 alone, OCHA reported 163 attacks by Israeli settlers that resulted in casualties and/or property damage, 465 displaced Palestinians, 322 Palestinian injuries and 24 Palestinian fatalities, while the recorded number of Israeli fatalities and injuries was respectively one and three.
To deter settlers from attacking in the middle of the night, volunteers like Michael Jacobsen were tasked with staying in Palestinian homes. September 2024, the then-78-year-old Bellingham resident was stationed in at-Tuwani, a Palestinian village located in the Hebron Governorate in the southern West Bank. Having an obviously white man in the house was often helpful in keeping settlers away, he said, though he heard that strategy didn’t always work.
Israeli forces have carried out almost 7,500 raids into Palestinian towns and villages across the West Bank since the beginning of 2025, a 37% increase compared with the same period last year.
Shortly after Post returned to the United States, she learned of a Palestinian man who was shot and killed while standing on the rooftop of his home on Dec. 17. According to a video shared on Faz3a’s Facebook account, the father of eight was shot by an Israeli sniper while observing clashes between soldiers and young Palestinians who attempted to keep them away by throwing rocks.
Tensions had been escalating in Qusra, where Post and other fellow international volunteers were stationed. Nearly every night between late November and December, Israeli soldiers used sound bombs, tear gas and opened fire as they raided homes and detained residents, Post said. Salish Current could not verify the motive behind the Israeli operation, but Post said it was in response to allegations of cars being purchased under the table due to high costs.
Movement restrictions under apartheid
Palestinians in the West Bank live under what UN rights expert Michael Lynk described in 2022 as a “deeply discriminatory dual legal and political system” that conforms to the definition of apartheid.
While settlers are charged under civil law, Palestinians are charged under military law. Israel has also arrested Palestinians without charge or trial, Amnesty International reports.
Palestinians may face life imprisonment simply for entering an area in close ‘proximity’ to property belonging to the army or state, according to Human Rights Watch. Even private property may be declared “state land” by Israel, barring Palestinian owners from entering and potentially leading to a lifetime behind bars.
Access to Palestinian private property may also be blocked due to encroaching settlements. One day, Post accompanied a woman to her land, around which a settlement had been built. Because of the new neighbors, the guards at the entrance of the settlement forbade her from entering, despite the fact she had documents proving she was the owner of the property.
There was nothing the volunteers could do, Post said.
Travel restrictions represent another challenge for Palestinians attempting to reach their land, go to work, attend school and see a doctor, among other ordinary activities.
“Getting around in the West Bank is wild,” Post said, recalling from experience how a drive that would have taken 15 minutes under normal circumstances could take an hour and a half or even five hours.
Traveling has become particularly risky since October 2023, with OCHA reporting a surge in obstacles placed by Israeli authorities to limit Palestinians’ ability to travel and to monitor their movements, often using facial recognition technology, according to Amnesty International.
“At any point as a Palestinian, you can be pulled out of your car and detained,” Post said, explaining that anyone, regardless of age, is seen as a potential terrorist. “If that happens to you, you don’t know if you’re gonna get released or not, it could be days, months or years.”
In a survey conducted between January and February 2025, OCHA found 849 movement obstacles across the West Bank, including but not limited to 94 checkpoints staffed 24/7, 205 road gates and 180 earth mounds. The largest obstacle is a 442-mile barrier, 85% of which cuts through the West Bank forcing thousands of Palestinians to obtain permission from Israel to live in their own homes and travel through gates to reach their land and workplace on the other side of the barrier.
Despite the restrictions, Palestinians would find a way to make travel more feasible. Volunteers would often hire local drivers to move around. The drivers, Post noticed, would often be on their phones or yell to drivers they would cross along the way. Not knowing Arabic, she initially thought they were stopping to greet one another. Instead, she learned, they were sharing updates on road closures and checkpoints. She likened these exchanges to a “river of resistance.”
As she traveled on a bus through an Israeli settlement, Post was shocked to see an extensive network of nicely paved roads designated for settler use. Even as a foreigner, she said, she had more freedom of movement than the Palestinians who lived in the West Bank.
Agricultural tradition under siege
One day, Post and other volunteers traveled to a property near Umm Safa, a village in the central Ramallah and al-Bireh governorate, where they would help two elderly cousins clean up after the harvest.
The farmers explained they were not allowed to use tractors on their property, so the work had to be done by hand, she wrote.
Palestinians often deal with arbitrary rules and permit denials. For example, while Israel controls over 80% of the water in the West Bank, it is nearly impossible for Palestinians to obtain infrastructure permits from the Israeli government to drill wells or install pumps for agricultural or domestic purposes.
Surrounded by olive trees aged 150 and older, Post enjoyed a quiet day of labor with the farmers sharing stories, coffee and date fruits, she wrote.
The year prior, the men told her, the settlers set a hundred cows loose, letting the cows overgraze and damage their trees.
More people would share similar experiences during her time in the West Bank.
In Duma, a town in the Nablus Governorate that is surrounded by settlements, Post and her fellow volunteers were invited to meet the members of a woman-led agricultural cooperative. The women had been particularly struggling to provide for their families since October 2023 due to the escalation of violence and vandalism, with settlers stealing and destroying equipment and supplies.
At the time of her visit, the cooperative was left with a small number of animals. Settlers also bulldozed the cow barn, killing some of the cows trapped inside and causing others to run away.
Because the cooperative had been targeted multiple times, many community members were afraid of even stopping by to buy their products, the women told Post.
Internationals not welcome
While internationals generally face lesser consequences than Palestinians, the presence of volunteers is typically not welcomed by Israeli soldiers or settlers, Post said.
“Go home, you don’t belong here,” she recalled them saying in various situations.
The presence of volunteers can help de-escalate episodes of aggression, but they may also escalate them, she said, noting that some volunteers have been attacked and injured.
In the case of Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi, a volunteer from Seattle who was shot by the Israeli Defense Forces while participating in a demonstration against illegal settlements held by the International Solidarity Movement in September 2024, it cost her life.
There are also at least two International Solidarity Movement volunteers who were killed by Palestinian militant groups.
The death of the recent University of Washington graduate shortly before her own departure underscored the reality of what Post was getting into, she recalled. And after the passing of her twin sister, Post’s mother was afraid of losing another daughter.
But when Jewish Voice for Peace shared a call from Faz3a on its social media account, Post knew she wanted to go, motivated by a desire to do more to help Palestinians and supported by her children, who claim their father’s Jewish heritage.
Today, after giving talks about her experience and working for the International Solidarity Movement in bringing volunteers to the West Bank, Post is learning Arabic and is hoping to repeat the experience and reconnect with the people she worked and ate olive oil with.
“It is a profoundly life-altering experience,” she said.
Jacobsen’s experience, on the other hand, was cut short. Less than two weeks after setting foot on the West Bank, Israeli authorities forced him to leave.
Jacobsen was escorting a shepherd and his sheep when he was approached by a soldier who demanded to see his passport. Upon checking the document, the soldier made an unexpected accusation: Jacobsen was a terrorist. He was a member of five different human rights groups that he was told had been designated as terrorist organizations, including, he said, the International Solidarity Movement.
Jacobsen was placed in an armored vehicle and taken to a facility where he was interrogated, an encounter he said “was not very friendly.” Instead of facing imprisonment, he agreed to be escorted to the border and to never return.
This wasn’t the first time Jacobsen experienced a sudden change of plans.
Months before, in May 2024, he and other fellow activists were in Istanbul, ready to board a flotilla of boats loaded with food and medical supplies for Gaza. The government of Guinea Bissau, however, retracted its flag from the vessels, impeding them from leaving the port, he said.
While he would like to return to the West Bank, he feels unsure about the idea due to the escalation of violence.
A responsibility to help
Jacobsen, an anti-war activist who was drafted to the Vietnam War at 19, expressed his frustration over local representatives who support Israel, as well as the United States’ use of veto power in the UN Security Council to favor Israel, enabling its violation of international humanitarian law that was expanded in response to the Holocaust, which he said is “ironic.”
When she announced her decision to volunteer in the West Bank, Post was asked what made the Palestinian’s plight her responsibility, and why she was willing to risk her safety. It was her responsibility as well as anyone else’s, she said, because billions of U.S. tax dollars go to Israel.
“We’re really intimately connected to what’s happening over there,” Post said. “We have a responsibility to try and stop it.”
— By Luisa Loi
Also read in Salish Current:
• “Peace Corps volunteers bring the world back home,” Aug. 27, 2025
• “Bellingham woman organizes support for Palestinian families,” May 23, 2025
• “Students and experts delve into U.S. foreign policy one year after Gaza conflict,” Oct. 17, 2024
• “Campus protests over Gaza part of a proud tradition,” May 15, 2024