On July 2, Khaled Azem was pulled from his car at a checkpoint in the northern occupied West Bank, he tells Al Jazeera.
Israeli soldiers beat and humiliated him, forcing him to say: “I love Israel”, while filming him on his phone, then posting it to his social media.
Azem, 25, and his brother-in-law had just left the Azem home in Sebastia, a village to the northwest of Nablus, to work on a construction site.
That’s when he fell victim to one of the increasing attacks that villagers say are part of Israel’s plan to drive Palestinians out.
Israel has been eyeing Sebastia’s significant archaeological site, which dates back to the Iron Age, since 2023, wanting to turn the area into a national park and tourism hub.
The baby of the family
On a hot afternoon in late July, Azem is sitting on his front porch, framed by his mother and grandmother. He smiles shyly and, at one point, puts his arms around both of the women.
He’s the baby of the family, the youngest of four siblings, and he and the two women share sloped hazel eyes. They also share the same anxieties over Israel’s increasingly violent military presence in and around their town.
“I used to go out often with my family,” Azem told Al Jazeera. “But now, due to the occupation forces, I hardly go out at all.”
The family has lived in this yellow-plastered house for 40 years – longer than Azem has been alive. Before the violence escalated, his days were quiet and calm.
He worked as a builder in Tel Aviv and enjoyed going into town in the evening to meet friends. Sometimes, he’d walk alone to the ruins overlooking the dry hills around Sebastia, past the ancient Roman columns and stone amphitheatre, enjoying the peaceful solitude and beautiful landscape.
That peace has now disappeared.
First came the job losses. Israel revoked nearly all border permits for Palestinians after October 7, 2023, and barred Palestinian workers from the construction industry.
Unemployment soared over 30 percent, leaving Azem and his two brothers without regular work, and the family now relying solely on the income of Azem’s father, Wael, a taxi driver.
Then came the Israeli military incursions, which ramped up since late 2023, with soldiers now storming through the village nearly every night. One evening, on January 19, an Israeli army sniper shot and killed a 14-year-old child, Ahmad Rashid Rushdi Jazar, near Sebastia’s kindergarten.
Now, many families, including Azem’s, no longer venture outside their homes,…