Elijah Kahlenberg is an editorial intern with Democracy in Exile and a legal research intern with DAWN. He has been at the forefront of youth-based anti-war and peace activism surrounding Israel-Palestine in his role as the founder and president of Atidna International. Elijah has previously written opinion pieces in the Forward, LA Progressive, Newsday, Haaretz, International Digest, and other outlets.
"They [Israel] started to annex more and more and they started sending those settlers. People should know that settlers do not move alone, do not plan alone. They are funded by Israeli organizations, the settler organizations such as Himanuta, Amana [an extremist pro-settler non-governmental organization sanctioned by the Biden Administration in 2024], and many other private companies that the Jewish National Fund and other governmental institutions founded in order to steal Palestinians' land."
This is the context that Palestinian Christian activist Alice Kisiya describes when asked about her community in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, alongside the evolution of Israeli encroachment into Palestinian land following the Hamas Oct. 7 attacks.
In a powerful interview with Democracy in Exile, Kisiya shares her struggle against Israel's dispossession of her ancestral village in the West Bank: Al Makhrour. She outlines a nearly two-decade effort by the Israeli government, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and settler groups to demolish her family's property and evict them from their land.
Kisiya has become a household icon in Palestine and around the globe for her triumphant stand leading a nonviolent resistance movement against the usurpation of her family's land, directly confronting settlers, soldiers and others. In the process, she began an interfaith solidarity campaign composed of Jews, Christians and Muslims to defend the village—an effort she reflects upon. Kisiya passionately and emotionally brings the plight of Palestinian Christians to the forefront of her conversation with Democracy in Exile through a variety of avenues, including her critical assessments of Western Christian Zionists and her calls for action following the recent Israeli bombings against Gaza's only Catholic church. She consistently stresses the need for peace and unity for all in the Holy Land.
The fraudulent legal and financial efforts of Jewish-Zionist institutions to acquire the Kisiya's property is mainly led by the Jewish National Fund (JNF)—a non-profit and financial powerhouse acquiring private Palestinian land to expand Jewish-only settlements in the occupied West Bank in coordination with the Israeli government. DAWN called for the sanctioning of the JNF earlier this year for its role in aiding the illegal and violent expansion of Jewish settlements in the West Bank.
Specifically, the Kisiya family has been engaged in a physical and legal struggle with Himanuta WB. Himanuta is a corporation owned by the JNF and registered with the Civil Administration, Israel's governing body in the West Bank, with the explicit purpose of acquiring Palestinian land. Himanuta's illegal and underhanded tactics to remove the Kisiya family and hand her land to Jewish settlers is outlined in the interview.
The following transcript has been edited lightly for clarity and length.
———–
The Israeli military and Israeli settlers backed by the Jewish National Fund have repeatedly attempted to seize your family land in Al Makhrour—a historic and prominent Christian village near Bethlehem which became a UNESCO world heritage site in 2014 for its olive groves, ancient terraces and vineyards. Alice, could you start by sharing how you came to lead your family's struggle against such attempts at dispossession, and what the land means to you as a Palestinian Christian?
I'll talk a bit about my memories in that land—the memories that I had when I was little. I was born in this village. I was raised there along with my other family members. The memories that I have concern everything in my life: the nature, the house, the sunset, the good business that we had. My classmates—we used to celebrate our occasions there at a restaurant we had beside our home. A home is not about a building. It's about memories. So, this [Al Makhrour] is my home.
I refused to leave this area—that land—because I am deeply connected to it, me and my family. With their [the Israeli military and settlers] attempts of demolishing and threatening and trying to push us out or kick us out, which began a long time ago—it's not their first attempt—we refused to leave. After the demolitions, the many demolitions of our property, they [the Israeli military] said that we are not allowed to build in Al Makhrour. But our house was in a registration process with the Civil Administration, and we were paying taxes in the Jerusalem municipality for this.
But let's talk about the settlers. They are building and they are putting caravans in our lands without permission. At this point, Al Makhrour is open for the settlers, but not for the Arabs or Palestinians, though we have Israeli citizenship.
People should know that settlers do not move alone, do not plan alone. They are funded by Israeli organizations, the settler organizations such as Himanuta, Amana [an extremist pro-settler non-governmental organization sanctioned by the Biden Administration in 2024], and many other private companies that the Jewish National Fund and other governmental institutions founded in order to steal Palestinians' land.
- Elise Kisiya
I want to discuss the 2019 demolition—the demolition where they demolished our family house. In previous demolitions, they didn't demolish our house because we were in the middle of a legal process. But then our lawyer, our personal lawyer, deceived us and made it possible for the home to be demolished, illegally, of course, and it was demolished. So, we stayed on the land for five years in tents. We prefer to be refugees in our land rather than to leave it and be refugees somewhere else. So, we slept in tents, and we used to upgrade the inside of the tent for winter and summer. And each time we set up a tent, they [the Israeli military] came and demolished it.
The last two demolitions before the one when they kicked us out, they tried to come in and demolish our tent. And they tried to send the settlers to do the same, but they didn't make it in because I didn't allow them to come in. And I called the [Israeli] police at that time. They [the settlers] weren't backed up by the military at that time. They were only kids. And when the police came, they kicked the settlers out and we stayed in the land. But on July 31, 2024, they made a good plan with the military for a "closed zone order," which says that there is nothing in Al Makhrour, allowing the military to seize the land and kick us out.
When I was younger, I wasn't really aware of how to deal with this. I was relying on my parents. They used to deal with it with lawyers—not by partaking in activism or raising their voices. They were really careful. But suddenly, I had this strength, and I had no fear of fighting them [the settlers] back and saying the truth and raising my voice for the world to hear me. So, I asked for help from human rights activists, politicians, priests, religious leaders and anyone who really has any dignity. They came.
Many people came and stood by us and helped us with this struggle. And during that time, the videos became viral, and people knew about our story. It gave me more power to fight back. I was old enough to understand, or I was aware enough to understand that I have to face this and I have to fight back. So, I wasn't afraid of that.
You just described the repeated demolitions undertaken by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) against your family's property—including your father's restaurant, your family home and your tents. How has that long ordeal impacted you and your family, both emotionally and physically?
The situation has not only impacted us emotionally and physically. It's psychologically, mentally and financially. It is by all means, with more than 15 years of spending money on lawyers. We were not really as aware of this legal battle as we should be, but we learned and we gained experience. For Palestinians that hire lawyers, and who rely on those lawyers, those lawyers are being manipulated by settler organizations and the Civil Administration in order to get their lands. And lawyers can lie.
For example, for the first few months, they [lawyers] will show them [Palestinians] that they are working. Let's say there is a land that is around five dunams or let's say it's around 20 dunams. And this lawyer can work on one dunam and leave the 19 remaining dunams for the settlers. And he will show us that he's working by winning that single dunam.
Lawyers can also have deal exchanges with the Civil Administration. For example, this lawyer has another case in another part of Area C [One of three zones established after the Oslo Accords and the only Zone fully controlled by Israel, constituting 60% of the West Bank]. So, they give Palestinians those lands to be successful, to win for them [Palestinians] in order to lose another bigger or more strategic piece of land. And there are many ways that they [settler organizations] can manipulate the case in order to get what they want. And people, they don't have any legal background to know what's really happening. And especially Palestinians—they don't know Hebrew. And they don't know Israeli law.
With demolitions, with rebuilding, it has cost us a lot. Each time we used to rebuild, we lived in fear that one day they might come back and demolish again and again and demolish what we have been working on for years with our family—a business or your family house or your memories. It's really tiring.
And watching all these bulldozers and this big army coming for demolitions, it's really terrifying. But thank God we were and still are a strong family that are fighting back for our property, even if it hurts. But this pain has brought us to a level of patience and power to fight back. And also, physically it strengthens us—living in tents, living through demolitions, each time we rebuild.
It's not the first time we're losing our home. In the 2000 Intifada, we lost our home, our family home. Also, I was three years, around three or four years old then. Six years maybe, I don't really remember my age. But back then there were also demolitions. It's like history repeating itself now. I thought to myself during each demolition, "This time, it has to come to an end. This cycle won't come back again to my kids and their kids."
And for my family, it was really terrifying—the things that they have been living through. My nephew, my nieces, everything is related to that land. Financially, emotionally, everything. As much as I can describe for you, it is not enough because living in it is very difficult. But thank God, we were able to pass this and become stronger than ever. And I believe that those years were an experience, a journey with experience that God put in our path so we can fight them and get back our rights and be a symbol of a family that's fighting [Israel's] government, the corrupted people in this government and the people who are helping them.
For me, as Alice, it's a journey that I am enjoying. I'm enjoying it because I am enjoying destroying the evil within those settlers. It's not about a promised land; it's about a project land. You will see buildings here that they are selling for millions. One day they [the settlers] will wake up and realize what they have been doing to other people.
Would you say settlers have taken advantage of post-Oct. 7 conditions to accelerate the theft of your family's property? And if so, can you describe how their tactics have evolved over the past year and half?
So, when all the media is concentrating on the war and on Gaza and on the internal problems within the Israeli government, they [Israel] started to annex more and more and they started sending those settlers. People should know that settlers do not move alone, do not plan alone. They are funded by Israeli organizations, the settler organizations such as Himanuta, Amana [an extremist pro-settler non-governmental organization sanctioned by the Biden Administration in 2024], and many other private companies that the Jewish National Fund and other governmental institutions founded in order to steal Palestinians' land. And this is how they have been stealing those lands—through private companies.
You know Area C, it follows the Jordanian law until this moment. And that's why the Regavim [a pro-settler NGO that pursues legal actions against Palestinians building in Israel and the West Bank] have been trying to manipulate or change the law, the Jordanian law number 40. In the last few years—three years or four years—they have been trying to change this law because they say it's a racist law that's not allowing Israelis to buy Palestinian land. But their proposed law says that those lands cannot be sold to any Arabs or Palestinians.
And then, in 1971, they amended the legislative process where they changed the law a bit. And they added that it [land in Area C] could be bought only through Israeli companies or foreign companies, but only for development projects. It cannot be directly sold to Jewish or Israeli people. And, according to this law, many companies that are stealing Palestinian lands in Area C are not even registered in the list of the legal companies that can do developments. One of them is Himanuta, the one that we are facing. So, people should really dig into these companies.
Second, besides the forged documents and the legal things that they are trying to manipulate, they send settlers to harass people. And those settlers are trained, are brainwashed to follow the rules, to follow the orders. They are like a small mafia, a young mafia. It's funded. It's brainwashed. They have plans. They have plans. And just harassing people. Many other families just left because of this—without fighting back.
It [harassment] makes them successful. Also, they spread rumors about the owners of this land, like what happened with us. These tactics have all been used against us. Spreading rumors that the owners sold the land—like someone from the family from long ago sold the land. And this is a rumor where people in town around us will maybe think that "OK, they sold the land. Why are they fighting? They are traitors." So, no one will defend us. No one will stand with us.
And these rumors are spread by Arabs who have also profited, or they have a business together with those settler organizations, or they have been paid to say so. But we have proved otherwise. We have proved that we never sold it. Proved that my ancestors never sold it. Proved their documents are forged.
And they also have this tactic where, for example, when a land has many neighbors, they go to your neighbors secretly. They offer to do a new land registration or a new map where they erase the name of your father or the owners of the land. And instead of it, they write the Israeli company or Himanuta, like what they did with us through our neighbor.
And the neighbors are afraid that their land will be taken. So, they go and do it. I understand their fear, but this is very selfish. Also, there are other tactics to manipulate the people around you: the lawyers, the neighbors, everything. They are threatening as well. They try to set up traps or an ambush. Many things, but thank God we have passed all these tests, and they lost.
Can you give us an overview of the legal battle your family has fought with the Jewish National Fund to maintain the rights to your land? Also, if you can, outline the legal documentation your family has utilized to prove ownership over the land.
So, we were issued a land registration from the Civil Administration in 2014. And it was issued in the name of my father. But we have been fighting in the courts with many documents that we have. And there was no problem with the ownership of the land until 2017, when Himanuta came and claimed that it is theirs. They said they bought it in 1969, and they said that their land registration has an origin in the archive of the state.
When we entered the archive of the state and searched for their claims, we found nothing. We found no documents. And what they have been doing is that they are filling out the blanks [with the name Himanuta] in this archive because the Jordanians, when they left, they gave a copy.
What they did is that they started to fill out the blanks in order to steal more and more land. It's the same as what's happening in East Jerusalem, Silwan and everywhere. They are forging documents with the name JNF or Himanuta. They say that it's registered officially. It's in the archive. So, people wouldn't go, or their lawyers wouldn't go and search for it. And even if they want to send a lawyer to search for it, they can manipulate him not to go or to bring another document for the owners and say, "OK, it's registered."
But we searched in it [the archive] personally. We found it empty. Along with this, in the last court hearing that we had, the Supreme Court admitted my rights to the land. We are talking about five pieces of land. One of them is the one that we kept for my father. We stayed in it for many years. The others are for farming.
The Supreme Court admitted my rights to those five lands. And they [the JNF] are out of the land. But we will continue fighting the legal battle. I don't believe in any legal system, but I believe in God—that he will bring good to people at the right time. And this is what's happening with us, always bringing good to people at the right time. And he's always opening a door when the other is closed. We have the keys, but we need to try the keys with each door.
I can't say so many details about the legal battle because it was very, very big. I'm talking about 15 years plus. But the last one was really successful. And they thought that because we have been in this struggle for many years that no one knows, and we don't talk. This time they thought that it was going to be the same. But everything was exposed and everything got extremely crazy around this subject.
When we set up a solidarity tent, we had interfaith events and nonviolent protests, which brought so much attention. Working in the field did as well. It's very good to prove your existence, your rights to those lands. And legally, we waited. We didn't rush to go to the courts. We waited around four months. And the minute that we applied to the Supreme Court, they removed their caravans, they removed the settlers. And it was really successful, but we waited until the last court decision.
We still have more legal battles to go. Also, since that court decision in June, the [Israeli] police and the settlers have accused me and my mom of running over a soldier or hitting a soldier. So, they are afraid, but they are trying to make us pay more money, putting our attention into other cases. We have court in October against those settlers. And we still are focusing on the land. I know their tactics are trying to make us really tired, also to pay so much money for lawyers.
I didn't mention that at the time when this was happening, they stopped my father's [work] permission—he had permission to go work to Jerusalem—because he's Palestinian. They stopped his permission in a way to push the family to not have an income; to stay home and to not pay for lawyers. So, it's a way. It's a tactic.
Different people of all kinds—Arabs, Christians, Muslims, Jews, Druze and even people you can't even imagine finding together—unified against what's happening [with the JNF] and against the settlers. This interfaith movement brought me so much hope that in the middle of a war, in the middle of the hardest times, the world is seeing through Save Al Makhrour that this is not between Jews or Muslims or Christians or whatever.
- Elise Kisiya
As you briefly mentioned, you spearheaded an interfaith solidarity initiative called Save Al Makhrour. The community brings together Christians, Muslims and Jews to unite against the state and settler violence directed at expropriating your family's land. What message do you hope such an interfaith movement sends to the world and what support does this campaign still need to continue being effective?
The interfaith movement of Christians, Muslims and Jews used to be based in our restaurant. It used to be a peace center. And I believe that this place is the gate for unity, as it has brought together so many people from different cultures and different faiths.
Different people of all kinds—Arabs, Christians, Muslims, Jews, Druze and even people you can't even imagine finding together—unified against what's happening [with the JNF] and against the settlers. This interfaith movement brought me so much hope that in the middle of a war, in the middle of the hardest times, the world is seeing through Save Al Makhrour that this is not between Jews or Muslims or Christians or whatever. That is all politics, it's all propaganda. The movement shows that we the people can live together, we the people need peace, we need to accept each other, we need to love each other because God is love. This is what made this interfaith solidarity and interfaith movement succeed because we never involved politics.
With the interfaith events, we proved that people could fight side by side together in harmony. We had so much experience together as human beings rather than just fighting settlers. We knew each other. We made really good relationships between each other. We learned about our cultures, religious beliefs and different ideologies. So, it was really nice, it was really strong. Also, we built a church—it's a symbol that this is a Christian village, but Christians, Muslims and Jews have prayed in it together. I hope that this type of movement can happen everywhere, that people can come together.
Save Al Makhrour, of course, always needs support because settlers are still around, they still harass. But Save Al Makhrour is a symbol of unity, of love. And we are thinking of opening a law office which will help people, which will lead the people with their legal battles against settler violence, settler land thefts and settler harassment. And we will provide legal advice for them because as the Kisya family—my parents, my brother and sister—we have faced so much and have endured this all ourselves. It is our way to give back.
Taybeh—the only fully remaining Palestinian Christian village in the West Bank—has seen some of the most brutal violence from Israeli settlers as of late, including an arson attack on the fifth century Church of St. George. How do Palestinian Christians view these attacks—especially amid escalating harassment and violence the community has faced over the past few years across the entirety of the Holy Land?
What is happening in Taybeh is ethnic cleansing. It is part of an intentional effort to remove the Christians from the land of Jesus Christ. My heart breaks for the people of Taybeh. Their persecution is just one of many stories, especially in recent years, of the harassment and torment directed at Christians here.
Maybe this will awaken more and more of the Western Christians that are supporting the Israeli government. They should know that as long as the Holy Land and the cradle of Jesus Christ are suffering, they will suffer. They are also responsible for this country as Christians. And they should know that we are indigenous Christians to this land, and they should stand up and speak the truth, stop being arrogant and open their eyes to see the reality.
And it's not a religious war. It's about ethnic cleansing for everyone. It's about land theft. It's about projects and money. They [Western Christians] should be aware of what's happening in Christ's land. And I hope what's happening now will awaken more and more Christians around the world.
Switching gears to Gaza, Israel recently bombed Gaza's only Catholic Church, an act condemned by Christian leaders around the world, including the Pope. After American pressure, Netanyahu expressed "regret" for the bombing. Can you describe your sentiments surrounding the targeting of Gaza's few remaining Christians over the past year and a half.
They [Israel] don't really care about Christians. I say again, they don't really care about Christians. They don't care about Muslims. They don't even care about Jews. All they care [for] is political goals. And after pressure, Netanyahu has said, "We did it by mistake." So, who cares? Who cares for statements? Who cares if religious leaders give statements. We don't need statements, we don't need talking, we don't need words. We need actions—like for example when Pizzaballa [the Catholic Church's Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem] entered Gaza a few days ago. We don't care about statements. We don't care about letters. We care about actions.
And it's not about Christians being bombed. There are also Muslims being bombed. They are human beings. And they [Israel] should take a step to stop this bloodshed and do the right thing for once.
What do you say to American Christians groups, most notably Evangelical Christians, who are some of the staunchest financial and political supporters of Israel—especially with regard to Israeli settlement activity in the West Bank?
I would say: Maybe they should come here by themselves and walk around those settlers. Let's see how they [the settlers] treat them. They should wear the cross. If they are Christians, let them walk by the settlers and let's see how they deal with them. I'm not going to say anything, I'm just inviting them to come here once and let them try the settlers' harassment.
After that, I will hear their opinion of the settlers, their support for the Israeli government and their funding of this madness.
You have consistently championed nonviolent resistance as a model to defend your village. How do you sustain this approach when settlers and soldiers themselves engage in property destruction and physical violence against your community?
They [the Israeli settlers and soldiers] are always using this to harass people, to provoke people to make one mistake in order to get them in jail or maybe kill them. I'm not giving them this. I believe in nonviolent resistance, in a nonviolent reaction. Though sometimes I am really mad, I'm not going to give them what they want.
I'm going to stay here to fight. And this is my win. My win is not hitting a settler, not killing someone, not fighting with hands or with anything, or with guns. My win is when I see them out of my land. When I see them out of my land, this is enough to prove that nonviolence is the good solution.
And the words are harder than the swords. They are stronger than swords. Because if you know how to use the pen—the words—you will make change. Nonviolence is the solution. I don't believe in armed resistance or anything violent because it will cause bloodshed. And this is what the devil wants. The devil always wants someone to fight the others. Christians fight Muslims, Muslims fight Jews, Jews fight Christians or vice versa. So, this is the devil.
I'm fighting evil. I'm not fighting human beings because I know that those people are brainwashed and it's my duty to wake them up—not to kill them, not to hate them.
But by words, the evil would be affected more than any other reaction or any other way. As Jesus said, he used to fight evil with words. So, words are more effective than swords.
You are no stranger to putting your body on the line and directly confronting Israeli soldiers and settlers during your activism. What are you doing to ensure you remain safe—especially when settlers appear more emboldened than ever, given their recent attacks, which include killing a Palestinian-American and targeting a CNN news crew in the West Bank?
I never think about how I'm going to be safe. I just rely on God. I just let it go. I go with the flow. And I never let fear enter my field. Because when bad people do something, they have fear inside. But when you are good, you don't have fear. You know that you are right. And whatever you're doing, you're doing with your rights and you know that you are protected.
And the archangels are protecting you because you are doing the good thing, the right thing. You are not hurting anyone; you are fighting for your own rights. And I never think about how I'm going to be safe. Yes, I think about how to do my events. I always think about how they're [the settlers] going to think or react.
But when I'm facing them, I'm never afraid. I don't care. I'm just doing what is inside of me is telling me to do. So, just something from God. It's faith. I believe in myself and first I believe in God. So, I believe that he put me in this situation because he knows that I can do it.
