Residents of Sebastia, a village in the northern occupied West Bank, say they are facing increasing attacks and humiliation at the hands of Israeli soldiers. The village, which is home to a significant archaeological site dating back to the Iron Age, has been under Israeli control since the 1995 Oslo Accords.
Khaled Azem, a 25-year-old resident of Sebastia, was pulled from his car at a checkpoint on July 2 and beaten and humiliated by Israeli soldiers. They forced him to say “I love Israel” while filming him on his phone and posting the video to his social media. Azem says the soldiers tried to frame him as an armed fighter, yelling questions at him like “Why are you attacking us with Molotov cocktails?” despite him telling them he doesn’t engage in violence.
The video, which Azem still has on his phone, shows him repeating the Hebrew words one by one as he lies on his belly, with the soldiers sitting on his legs and holding him down. Azem says the soldiers waited 15 to 20 minutes to ensure that some of his friends and family saw the video before giving back his phone.
Azem’s family has lived in their home in Sebastia for 40 years. Before the violence escalated, Azem worked as a builder in Tel Aviv and enjoyed going into town in the evening to meet friends. However, since the Israeli military incursions ramped up in late 2023, soldiers have been storming through the village nearly every night, and many families, including Azem’s, no longer venture outside their homes.
The Israeli military’s actions in Sebastia are part of a broader campaign to drive Palestinians out of the area. Israel has been eyeing Sebastia’s archaeological site, wanting to turn the area into a national park and tourism hub. The site is believed to be among the oldest continuously inhabited places in the occupied West Bank and has significant cultural and historical importance.
Human rights organizations have accused Israel of deliberately and systematically humiliating Palestinians, particularly civilians detained in Gaza. Ramy Abdu, chairman of the Swiss nonprofit Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor, writes that “Israel employs a systematic strategy of humiliation to psychologically impact and break down Palestinian individuals and communities.”
The situation in Sebastia is further complicated by Israel’s plans to build a fence and bypass road through the village, which would cut off Palestinians from the site and develop it to focus exclusively on Jewish history. Locals fear the worst, believing that Israel’s plans are leading towards the annexation of Sebastia.