For Mr. Kassis, housing will not be a privilege — it’s survival. “We resist,” he says “by merely present on the land. Occupation will not be solely the tank and the soldier. It doesn’t solely limit your motion, but in addition your ideas, plans, aspirations and your imaginative and prescient.”
Fundamental providers additionally bear the load of the occupation. “Our wells are located in Space C of the West Financial institution, the place safety is managed by Israel. That is the place the Israeli settlements are and settlers assault these sources of water, threatening the provision which is already the bottom on the earth per capita. On the identical time, settlers get pleasure from swimming swimming pools.”
To adapt, Ramallah has invested in wastewater therapy and irrigation tasks, utilizing recycled water to inexperienced the town. “While you see inexperienced, you see hope. And while you see hope, you go after hope.”
A gate not too long ago put in inside Jenin refugee camp within the West Financial institution.
Nurturing resilience
The price of occupation is measured not solely in boundaries and shortages, however in lives misplaced. In line with the UN Workplace for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), practically 1,000 Palestinians have been killed within the West Financial institution since October 2023, greater than 200 of them youngsters.
For households, the burden is heavy. “We’re a younger society,” Kassis explains. “Over 65 per cent of the inhabitants of Ramallah are below 40. Half are youngsters or youngsters.” Their mother and father, he says, need them to reside freely and expertise life, however they’re afraid of harassment and arbitrary detention.
“There are millions of prisoners. Every single day individuals detained with out courtroom orders and saved in jail for six months, which might be renewed. The thought is to kill our spirit.” Nonetheless, he insists, resilience endures: “Take a look at Gaza. Take a look at the children smiling. For me, that is resilience. These individuals, they select life in any case.”
As mayor, he believes resilience should be nurtured on the grassroots: via schooling, inexperienced areas, and instilling satisfaction within the land. “We constructed it up via years of exhausting work and schooling for the youngsters to cherish life, to cherish the great thing about the town, to like the land, to belong to the land. These are issues that we do, that’s a part of our DNA on the municipality.”
Roadblocks separating Ramallah’s entrance from the north of West Financial institution.
A path ahead
The UN has lengthy supported a two-State answer because the framework for resolving the Israeli-Palestinian battle: an impartial State of Palestine residing side-by-side with Israel in peace and safety. Key points nonetheless to be resolved embody borders, settlements, the standing of Jerusalem, refugees, and safety preparations.
Till that imaginative and prescient is realized, Kassis says, the individuals of Ramallah will proceed to carry on to hope — one dwelling, one household, one tree at a time.
