{"id":175738,"date":"2025-12-09T17:13:15","date_gmt":"2025-12-09T17:13:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/175738\/"},"modified":"2025-12-09T17:13:15","modified_gmt":"2025-12-09T17:13:15","slug":"nz-journalist-returns-from-six-months-in-the-west-bank-te-ao-maori-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/175738\/","title":{"rendered":"NZ journalist returns from six months in the West Bank \u2013 Te Ao M\u0101ori News"},"content":{"rendered":"

After six months in the West Bank, Cole Martin left carrying a responsibility to share stories he witnessed and help people understand the situation on the ground. <\/p>\n

He was living in Aida Camp, north of Bethlehem in the central West Bank, one of almost 60 refugee camps across the region<\/a> where families displaced during Israel\u2019s creation in 1948 live as they await the chance to return to their homes.<\/p>\n

In1948 the British mandate split Palestine into two states, The West Bank was to be home to Palestinians however in 1967 Israel illegally occupied the West Bank, and that occupation continues today.<\/p>\n

In September 2024, Te Ao M\u0101ori News interviewed Martin during his last time in the West Bank, where he detailed the daily violence Palestinian civilians face from settlers in the illegally occupied territories, including house demolitions and the unjust military court system.<\/p>\n

\"\"May 5, 2024: Khallet a-Thaba village in Masafer Yatta faced its second round of mass house demolitions in a year, exposing residents to the summer heat. Photographer: Cole Martin <\/p>\n

\u201cThey survive because it\u2019s not physically possible to just vanish. It\u2019s incredibly heavy and there\u2019s widespread unemployment, widespread depression and anxiety because of what they face every single day,\u201d Martin stressed.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce or twice a week, military will come in and take people from their homes, fire off tear gas, live rounds, rubber bullets,\u201d Martin said. <\/p>\n

He wears a Palestine map necklace made from recycled tear gas canisters, symbolising resilience, which he received while in the West Bank.<\/p>\n

Settler attacks cut community access to water<\/p>\n

Martin said Palestinian homes can be recognised by the water tanks on their rooftops, which ensure access to usable water, as Israel controls the supply, with 80 per cent funneled to Israeli civilians<\/a>. <\/p>\n

In May, the UN reported that since January, Israeli settlers had damaged water infrastructure on 62 occasions across the West Bank, depriving Palestinian communities<\/a>, with herding communities facing the most severe impacts. <\/p>\n

\"\"A water pipe in Umm al Khair destroyed by settlers, cutting access to over 100 residents and their animals. Photographer: Cole Martin <\/p>\n

The UN has also accused Israel of using thirst as a weapon in Gaza<\/a> by withholding access to safe drinking water, a serious violation of international law and a crime against humanity.<\/p>\n

Meeting families, welcomed with generosity<\/p>\n

Martin travelled through Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus, and into Masafer Yatta, a rural area in the South Hebron Hills of the West Bank.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was just met with such generosity and hospitality, it\u2019s so central and core to Palestinian culture and it\u2019s the beauty of that that gets overlooked in the headlines,\u201d he expressed. <\/p>\n

\"\"Martin met with Eid Hathaleen, whose home was demolished in June 2024. Eid picked through the rubble, finding his daughter\u2019s clothing and unfinished homework. Photographer: Cole Martin <\/p>\n

\u201cWe see the destruction, the terror, the fear, but we don\u2019t see the human side of these families who just want to live, to continue existing on their land, they just want to return to their homes.\u201d <\/p>\n

One of the people he met during his travels was Lulu, whose daughter Layan is a 25-year-old Palestinian Christian. She was seized in a dawn raid and sentenced to eight months in \u201cadministrative detention,\u201d where individuals are held without charge or trial<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"Prior to her October 2025 arrest, Layan Nasir had been taken at gunpoint in April 2024 and held without charge in Damon women\u2019s prison until her release in December that year. Photo: Facebook <\/p>\n

Martin documented the aftermath of settler violence in Umm al Khair following the killing of 31-year-old Palestinian human rights defender and teacher, Awdah Hathaleen<\/a>, in July 2025.<\/p>\n

Hathaleen was shot by renowned Israeli settler extremist Yinon Levy, and despite multiple eyewitness videos, Israeli courts reportedly ruled he acted in \u201cself-defense.\u201d <\/p>\n

In the days after, 19 of Hathaleen\u2019s family members were detained and assaulted, critical water pipes were destroyed, and residents faced ongoing intimidation \u2014 what Martin called a broader pattern of impunity and repeated settler attacks in the village.<\/p>\n

\"\"The closest Tariq Hathaleen could be to his brother is the bloodstained courtyard before Israel released Awdah’s body. Photo: Cole Martin Witnessing violence that echoes colonisation here<\/p>\n

Seeing things firsthand and journeying alongside people who had been arrested, beaten in prison, or had their homes demolished has drawn clear connections for Martin upon returning to Aotearoa.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are parallel stories. What is happening in Palestine is driven by the same ideologies, the same violence that drove colonisation here in Aotearoa.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the ground, he said people feel betrayed by the world and silenced. International law is only effective when countries are willing to enforce it, and he believes the international community has failed to do so.<\/p>\n

Palestinians in the West Bank endure illegal occupation, demolitions, and unjust military courts <\/p>\n

Although Martin has seen statements from the New Zealand government, he has yet to observe significant shifts in policy. <\/p>\n

\u201cEven while Israel has been committing what human rights organisations and monitors have concluded is an ongoing genocide, the International Court of Justice last year ruled that Israel is upholding a system of apartheid.<\/p>\n

\u201cAgain, these aren\u2019t terms of slander; they\u2019re legal definitions under international law. <\/p>\n

\u201cAnd New Zealand, as a signatory to those conventions, has obligations to act. The best we\u2019ve seen is our government sanctioning 33 individual settlers and two government ministers, but our sanctions are just travel bans. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve essentially said they can\u2019t holiday here and pretended that\u2019s enough to signal that committing genocide is unacceptable.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After six months in the West Bank, Cole Martin left carrying a responsibility to share stories he witnessed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":175739,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[112773,111,43,139,69,14786,112772],"class_list":["post-175738","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-international-law-violations","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-palestine","tag-west-bank"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175738","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=175738"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175738\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/175739"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=175738"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=175738"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=175738"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}