West Bank violence haunts U.S. family
Citizens who travel there still grieve NJ teen’s death
On a busy corner in South Paterson, New Jersey, a mural stretches along the side of a neighborhood bakery, turning an ordinary block into a quiet act of remembrance.
It depicts a boy riding a bicycle, a small Palestinian flag trailing behind him. He glances back and sees a young girl watering a line of red flowers, each with a tag around the stem.
The flower closest to the rider is tagged with a name: Amer Rabee.
The mural pays tribute to Amer, 14, the New Jersey native killed by Israeli soldiers on April 6, 2025, and to other Palestinian youth who have lost their lives under an increasingly violent West Bank occupation.
One year later, Amer’s death is still felt deeply on the streets of Paterson’s “Little Palestine.”
Many U.S. residents who live, work and shop in the neighborhood spend summers with family in West Bank towns and villages. Some, like the Rabee family, send children to live there for part of their youth to connect with their roots.
But these trips have grown fraught. Israeli military raids have escalated across towns, while settler attacks have grown more frequent and more brazen. Checkpoints, gates and sudden road closures can trap families for hours, turning short trips into hourslong journeys. Today, many Palestinian Americans grapple with the decision to go.
Amer’s two older brothers said their mother worried about their safety.
“Usually we go every summer, but especially for young people, it’s much more dangerous,” said Mahdey Rabee, 23. “My mother is afraid something will happen to us.”
Still, the brothers insist fear will not keep them away.
“She is scared for her children, but we can’t let fear push us off our land,” said Saada Rabee, 24.
On the day he died, Amer was picking green almonds with friends when rounds of gunfire rang out – 47 shots in total, according to audio recorded at the scene. He was killed and his two friends wounded.
The Israel Defense Forces said the
boys threw rocks toward a highway, and released a grainy video showing one person tossing a small object. There were no reports of any person or property hit on the roadway, which the Israeli human rights group B’tselem reported was nearly 100 feet away. Despite demands for an investigation, none has been ordered.
Amer’s brothers focus not on his death but on the life he lived. He was a top student who enjoyed family dinners and playing video games, they said. He was about to launch an online business selling cotton candy machines.
“He was very smart, ambitious and kind,” Mahdey Rabee said. “He had the highest grades in school.”
Life in the West Bank town where Amer’s brothers and two sisters also spent several years has grown increasingly difficult.
Settlers seeking to expand control over the West Bank have set fire to trees, cars and buildings in the region, as per news reports and human rights groups. Attacks surged after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack in Israel and again amid war with Iran. At least 1,091 Palestinians and 59 Israelis have been killed in West Bank violence during that time, according to United Nations data. Recent casualties include Nasrallah Abu Siam, 19, a Philadelphia-born American who was fatally shot in a settler attack in the village of Mukhmas in February.
The Rabee family’s stone pool house, where Amer enjoyed swimming and barbecues, was set on fire. The military installed metal gates outside villages including Turmus Ayya, where Amer was killed, controlling when people can come and go.
A growing number of Jewish organizations have condemned settler violence and urge Israeli leaders to take concrete action to stop its spread and hold perpetrators accountable. They include groups such as the Union for Reform Judaism, the Rabbinical Assembly, the Central Conference of American Rabbis, the American Jewish Committee and the Democratic Majority for Israel.
In March, over 6,300 Jewish philanthropists, rabbis and community leaders worldwide signed an open letter to Israeli President Isaac Herzog saying extremist violence is “morally shameful” and “damages world Jewry and the relationship of future generations with Israel.”
Some Palestinian Americans, including Siam’s uncle Alae Jaber, have curtailed their travel plans. He had intended to travel with his wife and three children, ages 9, 5 and 2.
“Given the events now, we probably won’t go this summer unless events change on the ground,” said Jaber.
But others remain undeterred. Jaber attended a March fundraiser in Philadelphia for Mukhmas relief with, he said, about 500 attendees.
“A good majority of them openly declared they are still going to go to Palestine,” he said. “It will not deter them. My father – he goes every single year. He is 68. He is going no matter what.”
Rania Mustafa, executive director of the Palestinian American Community Center in New Jersey, said parents with children and teenagers are especially conflicted.
“Their plans are on pause as they see what happens in the next couple of months,” she said. “Then there are people who are the opposite and say any way they can find, they will go back.”
Saada Rabee feels that staying home would embolden extremists trying to drive out Palestinians. “This is our ancestors’ land,” he said. “We have been there for hundreds of years.”
Headlines capture troubles in the West Bank, but they give only a small picture of life there, the surviving Rabee brothers said. For them, it’s a place of family, community and respite. On their visits, they enjoy roaming orchards with figs, oranges and pomegranates and trips to Ramallah, a city known for arts, cafés and nightlife. They also enjoy the olive harvest in the fall, when the whole community comes out to help pick olives, although it recently has been disrupted by violence and travel restrictions.
It is that sense of community, they said, that has helped their family endure Amer’s loss. “All of our neighbors have experienced this,” Saada Rabee said. “We stand together.”