The outdoor patio, slightly below ground level, looks at two walls branded with signatures of Palestinian resistance. One is covered by paintings of icons, from Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akhleh to activist Khader Adnan. The other bears quotes, in Arabic and English.

“If we fail to defend our just cause, then we should change the defenders, not the cause,” the wall reads in tribute to Palestinian writer Ghassan Kanafani.

As the sun set on the fourth day of the war, tourists had left and few foreigners remained, but regulars stayed stationed in front of ashtrays on intricately engraved coffee tables, trading news and life updates simultaneously.

Baha Hilu, the organizer of cultural and political events at the Citadel, had had a long day. He wore a knit wool cap and a T-shirt in a matching olive green color, the words “Intifada 48” written on the back like a sports jersey. He spoke in poignant one-liners informed by his sociological background, but more importantly, by his ability to articulate the structures of oppression that shape the life of a Palestinian.

His day started by arranging an anxious Swiss tour group’s departure after they found themselves stuck in Bethlehem with the near complete closure of checkpoints, amid mounting apprehensions that the cloud of war that had already enveloped the Gaza Strip could soon spread to the West Bank.

At 8 a.m. he had loaded them into a Palestinian white-plated bus that left from Bethlehem to a checkpoint east of the city. The checkpoint, miraculously open, was where the group switched to an Israeli yellow-plated bus that would take them to the Jordan crossing – the Ben Gurion airport was no longer an option. As Baha drove away, he watched Israeli forces intercept the bus and close the checkpoint after it passed through.

Later that day, he heard the news from a friend in Gaza City – she and her family lost their home in the Israeli bombing. They were now displaced people. Homeless.

By the time he sat down, it was nearly 6 p.m. Baha was tired – physically, mentally and emotionally. The whole world was looking at him, at Palestine, he said, but they couldn’t see him at all.

“This is different,” was the one statement that stayed consistent among conversations in the Citadel.

Baha agreed – he had never seen Israeli soldiers captured by Palestinians before. Yet, he pointed out, “the outcome is always the same”.

A wall at the Citadel restaurant in the West Bank, with sketches of iconic Palestinians, on October 10, 2023 [Laila Shadid/Al Jazeera]

He spoke to the conception that Palestinians are “used to this” – to war. “We are survivors of Israeli apartheid. It is applied to the best of us and to the worst of us,” he said. “We are forced into despair to the point where death is more merciful than life.”

“Every Palestinian killed is a miracle wasted,” he said, rubbing his temple with one hand, holding a cigarette in the other.

Nineteen-year-old Maryam shared a similar sentiment. “People make it seem like we’re used to war, but we’re not,” she said. “I was supposed to start university in Haifa next week.” Her silver earrings swung back and forth as she shook her head.

“I guess that’s not happening.”

Nader, Taha, Ibrahim and Malik sat around a nearby table. They picked from a bag of Mr. Chips, paprika flavored, and Lay’s. Packs of Marlboro, Parliament and Gauloises were depleting fast.

“Don’t worry,” Ibrahim reassured, unlike gasoline, water, and canned goods, they were sure they wouldn’t run out of tobacco.

As the night went on, more people sat down at the Citadel. The conversation continued in a growing circle. A young woman from Romania, who had arrived in Bethlehem only three weeks earlier, spoke up. She was working for an NGO documenting Israeli crimes of international law and on a three-month stay.

“My parents are freaking out, but I want to stay,” she said. “For as long as I can.”

She added that many of her foreign friends had already left. She was living alone.

A voice from across the circle suggested a game night at the Citadel the next day. Everyone was excited about the idea and offered to bring a different board game or deck of cards. Even poker was on the table.

“The buy-in is 200 shekels,” Baha joked, the equivalent of $50. The group groaned in unison, suggesting that the loser buys a pack of cigarettes instead. Yes, they agreed, it was decided.

As the conversation continued, Nader and Ibrahim watched a live video on TikTok of scenes unfolding less than 10 minutes away, at Jacir Palace, a major hotel. People crowded around the phone watching a jagged line of fire spread across the street. Everyone had been there before, everyone knew someone who lived within a quarter-mile radius if it wasn’t themselves. Gunshots rang out on the screen. Eyes bulged as a man fell to the ground at the hands of Israeli forces.

Minutes later, phones lit up with notifications from WhatsApp and Telegram news-update group chats.

“19:54hrs, WB, Bethlehem: a Palestinian was seriously injured during ongoing clashes with IF in front of [Jacir] palace / Rachel tomb 300 checkpoint. Avoid the area.”

“Would the situation escalate in the West Bank?” It’s a question many of those at the Citadel wondered out loud. Already, isolated incidents like the one at Jacir Palace were steadily increasing.

“This is nothing,” Taha said of what had happened so far. “This is only a snack.”

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He stressed that the “history-making” move of the Palestinian nation has frightened the Zionists.

Palestinians have scrapped “the illusion of living under the yoke of the Zionist regime”, taken the initiative and proved that their determination rooted in faith in God could defeat any weapons and equipment, Iran president said.

Rayeesi called on the world to come to realize that the “accumulation of cruelty and injustice” against the Palestinian nation, “the continuation of harassment of the Palestinian women and prisoners” and “the constant desecration of Al-Aqsa Mosque” won’t last “forever” and “will be faced with the resistance of nations”.

“Undoubtedly, the Zionist regime and its backers are responsible for jeopardizing regional security and stability and must be held accountable,” he underscored.

Rayeesi warned Israel that the regional equation has changed and warmongering would be detrimental to the Zionists.

The president also urged the Muslim community to stand by the Palestinian people in their struggle against Israel.

Hamas on Saturday staged a large-scale operation in response to the desecration of Al-Aqsa Mosque and increased settler violence. The attacks have killed more than 650 and injured over 2,100, according to Israeli officials. The group has announced that it has killed and captured many Israeli soldiers.

In the Gaza Strip, at least 370 Palestinians were martyred and more than 2,000 were wounded, the Palestinian Health Ministry has confirmed. In response to the Palestinians’ military operation, Israel carried out heavy bombardment across the besieged enclave.

On Tuesday, Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei reiterated that the Israeli regime’s days are numbered.

“Today, the Palestinian movement is more cheerful than ever in the past seventy and eighty years, and the Palestinian youth and the anti-usurpation, anti-oppression and anti-Zionism movement are more cheerful, more lively, and more ready than ever, as you can see,” he told a group of people, government officials, ambassadors of Islamic countries and guests of an international unity conference in Tehran.

“And God willing, this movement will come to fruition, and as the late honorable Imam [Khomeini] described the usurping regime as a cancer, God willing, this cancer will be eradicated at the hands of the Palestinian people and the resistance forces in the entire region,” the Leader stated.

Back in early-April, Ayatollah Khamenei said the internal crises within the Israeli regime have accelerated the collapse of the Zionists to happen even before the 25-year deadline previously declared by him.

While referring to the Zionist regime as an enemy of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Khamenei pointed out that during the regime’s 75 years of existence, it has never faced problems like the dire ones it is facing today.

“The Zionist regime has political instability and has changed four prime ministers in four years; party coalitions collapse before forming; there is an extreme bipolarity throughout the fake regime, which is highlighted by the demonstrations of hundreds of thousands of people in some cities. It is not possible for them to try to make up for these weaknesses by firing a few rockets,” the Leader stated, while giving examples of the Zionist regime’s chaotic and collapsing state.

He considered the warnings of Israeli officials regarding the nearing collapse of the Zionist regime as another sign of their weakening.

“We had mentioned [in 2015] that the Zionist regime would not see 25 years from then, but it seems as though they themselves are in a rush and want to leave sooner,” the Supreme Leader stressed.

A significant number of people are looking for an escape route from the occupied territories amid the deepening political and existential crisis facing the Israeli regime led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, according to Israeli media.

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“The Ramadan intifada and the spread of new dimensions of Resistance and protest of the oppressed and innocent people of Palestine against the occupiers of Al-Quds with the brutal attack of the Zionist regime on Al-Aqsa Mosque and other areas that led to the martyrdom of dozens of defenseless men, women and children, hurt the feelings and emotions of the Islamic Ummah and the right-seekers of the world, and made more apparent the evil nature of usurper Israel and its evil supporters,” the statement read.

“We warn the American terrorist regime and the criminal rulers of the White House, as the main supporters of the Zionists, who, through the deception of the leaders of some Arab countries, have become the guarantors of the Zionist regime’s atrocities and deplorable crimes that the withdrawal of the country’s military which can be a message of peace, security and tranquility for the people of the region, is the definite strategy of the Islamic Ummah, and they should not further embarrass the people of their country in the eyes of the world public opinion,” it added.

The IRGC also strongly condemned the crimes of the Zionist regime against the Palestinian people, assuring Palestine that it continues to support and accompany them with greater intelligence and power than ever before.

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