The 15th 'Wayn a Ramallah?' Festival opened in the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah under the theme 'We Are Staying,' returning after a two-year hiatus amidst ongoing conflict.

Israeli forces have demolished a 120-year-old Palestinian house in the village of Ni'lin, near Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, citing a lack of building permits.

A Palestinian DJ demonstrated at the Roskilde festival that a DJ set can bring people together without a common mother tongue and create temporary utopias, as long as the bass resonates.

Israeli settlers have reportedly torched Palestinian homes in Khirbet Abu Falah, a village near Ramallah, which has experienced over 30 settler attacks since late March.

A US State Department report has confirmed that the Palestinian Authority continues to make 'pay-for-slay' payments, preventing Washington from offering economic aid to Ramallah under the Taylor Force Act.

The Gaslini Institute of Genoa successfully completed its fifth pediatric cardiac surgery mission in Amman, Jordan, operating on ten children from Gaza, Ramallah, and Syria suffering from severe congenital heart defects.

The film "The Voice of Hind Rajab," which won the Grand Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival and was nominated for an Oscar, is now being screened in Czech cinemas after its premiere at the One World festival. The film is set in Ramallah in January 2024 and focuses on the Red Crescent.

From Ramallah’s cautious diplomacy to Hamas’s open backing of Tehran, Palestinian leaders and civilians are navigating a war that exposes old rivalries and new anxieties.

• Pakistan asks international community to reject provocative decision allowing takeover of occupied land as state property • EU calls annexation illegal, Arab nations denounce ‘threat to peace efforts’ • Israel imposes restrictions, deploys police around Al-Aqsa JERUSALEM / ISLAMABAD: As Pakistan denounced the latest Israeli move to convert areas of the West Bank into “state property”, the UN chief called upon Tel Aviv to reverse its new, “unlawful” policy allowing registration of the occupied land in the occupied territory as state property. Israel’s foreign ministry claimed the measure, approved late on Sunday, would enable “transparent and thorough clarification of rights to resolve legal disputes” but the move drew strong condemnations from across the globe for its violation of international law. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said this new measure was destabilising and unlawful, according to a statement by his spokesman Stephane Dujarric. Pakistan also denounced the step as a clear violation of international law as well as relevant United Nations Security Council and General Assembly resolutions. Islamabad urged the international community to reject the decision, said a statement issued by the For­eign Office spokesperson. It added that the occupying power continued to disregard international law and its provocative actions undermined the prospects for a just, comprehensive, and lasting peace in the region. “Pakistan calls on the international community to take concrete measures to end Israeli impunity, and ensure respect for international law,” the spokesperson added. ‘Undermine peace efforts’ Arab nations Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Qatar and Jordan also criticised the move as illegal. The measure is “aimed at impo­sing a new legal and administrative reality in the occupied West Bank” that would undermine peace efforts in the region, Saudi Arabia’s foreign affairs ministry said in a statement. Jordan’s King Abdullah II said the actions “undermine efforts to restore calm and thr­e­aten to exacerbate the conflict,” according to a statement released by the royal court. The European Union called on Israel to reverse the move. “This constitutes a new escalation after recent measures already aimed at extending Israeli control,” EU foreign affairs spokesman Anouar El Anouni said. “We reiterate that annexation is illegal under international law.” The Ramallah-based Palest­inian Authority called for inte­r­national intervention to prevent the “de facto beginning of the annexation process and the undermining of the foundations of the Palestinian state”. Israeli anti-settlement watc­­h­dog Peace Now called the measure a “mega land grab”. Jonathan Mizrachi, the NGO’s co-director, told AFP that the move would attribute new resources for land registration. “There was a lot of ambiguity regarding the land, and Israel decided now to deal with it,” Mizrachi said, adding that the grey area over Area C land ownership was likely to be used against Palestinians. “A lot of land that Palestinians consider theirs, they will find out it’s not theirs under this new registration process,” he said, believing the move would further the Israeli right’s annexation agenda. Changing demography Palestinians see the West Bank as foundational to any future Palesti­nian state, but many on Israel’s religious right want to take over the land. The latest Israeli initiatives come in the wider context of increasing attacks by Israeli settlers against Palestinians in the West Bank, according to rights groups. “We are witnessing rapid steps to change permanently the demography of the occupied Palestinian territory, stripping its people of their lands and forcing them to leave,” UN rights chief Volker Turk said in a recent statement. US President Donald Trump has opposed Israel’s annexation of the West Bank, saying stability in the territory helps keep Israel secure. However, he has held off from dire­ctly criticising the new Israeli measures, despite the international outrage. Excluding Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem, more than 500,000 Israelis live in West Bank settlements and outposts, which are illegal under international law. Around three million Palestinians live in the territory, which Israel has occupied since 1967. Al-Aqsa restrictions Israeli police said Monday that they would deploy in force around the Al-Aqsa Mosque during Ramazan, as Palestinian officials accused Israel of imposing restrictions at the compound. Over the course of the month of fasting and prayer, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians traditionally attend prayers at Islam’s third-holiest site. Arad Braverman, a senior Jerusalem police officer, said forces would be deployed “day and night” across the compound, adding that thousands of police would also be on duty for Friday prayers. Braverman said police had recommended issuing 10,000 permits for Palestinians from the occupied West Bank, who require special permission to enter Jerusalem. The Palestinian Jerusalem Governorate said it had been informed that permits would again be restricted to men over 55. Published in Dawn, February 17th, 2026

Turkish artist Ahmet Yusuf Aygeç's exhibition, 'Posters for the Olive Tree in Exile,' is on display in Ramallah, blending Palestinian experience with the poetry of Mahmoud Darwish through visual art.

Israeli security forces rescued an Israeli citizen who had entered Ramallah overnight after residents reported his presence, safely transferring him to the Israeli Police.

Palestinian-American journalist Mariam Barghouti, based in Ramallah, states that the West Bank will have disappeared once the war with Iran concludes, citing a systematic increase in organized crime against Palestinians.

Diplomatic missions from the European Union and several European countries in Jerusalem and Ramallah have condemned the resurgence of violence by Israeli settlers against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health in Ramallah announced that two Palestinians died after an attack by Israeli settlers in a village in the northern part of the occupied West Bank on Monday. The Israeli army confirmed the incident to Agence France-Presse.

Israeli raids in the West Bank have resulted in the detention of Palestinian children, amidst escalating settler violence and frequent attacks reported across Ramallah, Hebron, and Nablus.

A Jerusalem man has been indicted for allegedly blocking journalists’ vehicles, threatening them with a club and a rock, and damaging CNN and Italian media vehicles north of Ramallah.

A senior British Ministry of Defense adviser, General Edward Ahlgren, met with Ramallah Governor Laila Ghannam, a Palestinian Authority official.

CCTV footage has captured an Israeli soldier throwing a stun grenade into a shop during a night raid near the city of Ramallah.

The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs strongly condemned a 'terrorist crime' committed by settler gangs in Abu Falah village, northeast of Ramallah, which resulted in three deaths and several injuries.

More than two years after Israel’s devastating war in Gaza began, the West Bank has become an increasingly volatile front in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. While international recognition of a Palestinian state has gathered momentum, the situation on the ground is moving in the opposite direction. Israel’s government has advanced new annexation legislation, settlement growth is accelerating, and daily life for Palestinians is becoming more restricted and precarious. In a new series, reporter Matthew Cassel travels through the West Bank to document what daily life looks like under deepening occupation. Starting in Hebron and moving north to Ramallah, villages outside the city, and finally Nablus, he meets people across generations to ask: what does the idea of a ‘Palestinian state’ mean today? Continue reading...