The forceful dispossession of the Kisiya family – and many others – from their land is illegal and immoral, argue four leading Church of England figures

As the international community presses for a ceasefire hostage agreement in Gaza, there has been a drastic acceleration and intensification of settlement construction, land confiscation and home demolition in the West Bank, exacerbating longstanding patterns of oppression, violence and discrimination against Palestinians. There has always been a close relationship between successive Israeli governments and the settler movement, but there now seems to be little distinction between settler violence and state violence.

Sadly, we are now at an inflection point, as numerous Palestinian communities in the occupied West Bank, including Christians, are in grave danger of losing everything precious to them. The forceful dispossession of the Kisiya family from their ancestral land in the al-Makhrour valley outside Bethlehem is a case in point.