The last Christian valley
of Bethlehem
Alice Kisiya and her family have farmed Al-Makhrour for generations. Now she is fighting to keep it — for her children, for Palestinian Christians, and for the ancient olive trees that have outlasted every empire.
Read Alice's full storyHear Alice tell her story
Alice Kisiya has carried the fight for Al-Makhrour to journalists and audiences around the world. Watch the interviews and hear it in her own words.
Who is Alice Kisiya?
A Palestinian Christian defending her family's land
Alice Kisiya farms the terraces of Al-Makhrour — the last Christian agricultural valley near Bethlehem. When settlers and a JNF-linked claim threatened her family's land, she refused to leave. In 2025, the court ruled in her favor — but keeping the land is an ongoing fight.
Featured in
The story, as the world reported it
Dec 2025
Victory against Israeli West Bank settlement offers Palestinians some hope
A feature on Alice Kisiya regaining access to her family's land in Al-Makhrour after a rare legal victory against settlement expansion near Bethlehem.
Read at Al Jazeera2025
Palestinian Christian family regains its farm after years of struggle
Reporting on the court decision returning the family's land in Al-Makhrour after years of demolitions, eviction, and legal battle.
Read at National Catholic ReporterSep 2024
'We're not afraid': French-Palestinian family fights for West Bank land seized by settlers
Video report from the Al-Makhrour valley following the Kisiya family's struggle against settler encroachment on their land.
Read at France 24
Sep 2024
In the West Bank, Even Israeli Citizens Are Being Evicted by Illegal Settlers
A report on the eviction of the Kisiya family from their deeded land in Al-Makhrour — and why even the family's Israeli citizenship offered no protection from settler takeover.
Read at The Progressive
Aug 2024
عائلة قيسية تحاول إخراج مستوطنين من أرضها في بيت جالا
Palestinian daily Al-Ayyam reports (in Arabic) on the Kisiya family's effort to remove settlers from their land in Beit Jala — 'The Kisiya family tries to expel settlers from its land.'
Read at Al-Ayyam2019
'We are not defeated': Palestinian family defiant after Israel demolishes restaurant
Coverage of the demolition of the Kisiya family's home and restaurant in Al-Makhrour, and the Jewish National Fund-linked claim to their land.
Read at Middle East Eye
Oct 2024
Alice Kisiya: as land is confiscated in Al-Makhrour, "we need more support"
Alice describes the repeated demolitions, the destroyed solidarity tents, and her appeal to the global church to stand with the Christians of the valley.
Read at World Council of Churches2024
Palestinian Christians demand settler-stolen UNESCO land back
On the UNESCO-listed landscape of the valley and the campaign to reverse the seizure of Christian-owned agricultural land near Bethlehem.
Read at The New ArabNov 2024
West Bank Christian woman leads resistance to settlers' seizure of family's land
Reporting on Alice Kisiya's nonviolent resistance and the interfaith solidarity vigils held on the family's land in the Al-Makhrour valley.
Read at Religion News Service
Sep 2024
Why Catholics Need to Support the Palestinian Faithful
South Africa's Catholic weekly on the persecution of West Bank Christians — with the demolition of the Kisiya family home and Alice's confrontations with settlers as its central story.
Read at Southern Cross2024
"I'm Going to Stay Here to Fight": Alice Kisiya on Family Land and Expanding Settlements
An in-depth interview on nonviolent resistance, the family's documents proving ownership, and life under the threat of settlement expansion.
Read at DAWN2024
The Christian Palestinian family fighting Israel's land seizures
An analysis of the Kisiya case as a window into the broader pressures facing Palestinian Christian landowners in the West Bank.
Read at The New Arab2024
'Not Really Lost': Struggle for Land Rights in the West Bank
A close look at the families, including the Kisiyas, defending their land and rootedness in the hills around Bethlehem.
Read at CNEWA2024
Alice Kisiya: A Resilient Advocate for Justice and Land Rights
A profile of Alice Kisiya's leadership of the Save Al-Makhrour campaign and her nonviolent advocacy.
Read at What Women Want
We are not defeated.
Alice Kisiya
After the demolition of her restaurant and home in Al-Makhrour, 2019
The place
Why Al-Makhrour matters
Al-Makhrour is not only a family's land. It is a living witness to the presence of Palestinian Christians in the hills of Bethlehem — the same hills where the Gospel was proclaimed.
Ancient olive terraces
The valley's terraces have been farmed continuously for more than a thousand years. The olive trees predate every modern state in the region.
UNESCO World Heritage
Al-Makhrour sits within the inscribed landscape of the Land of Olives and Vines — a UNESCO World Heritage Site that includes Battir.
The last Christian agricultural valley
As Palestinian Christian families leave the Bethlehem area, Al-Makhrour remains one of the last places where a Christian family still farms their ancestral land.
Three ways to stand with Alice
Each one matters. Together they change what is possible.
Bring Al-Makhrour to your congregation
Alice has spoken in churches across the country. Download the sermon guide, prayer liturgy, and church toolkit — or invite Alice to speak. Palestinian Christians need to hear that the global church is standing with them.
Give
Your gift keeps Alice on her land
The legal battle continues. The terraces need replanting. Sustained giving is what makes it possible for Alice to stay on Al-Makhrour, to rebuild what was destroyed, and to set a precedent for Palestinian Christian land rights.
- $50Replants olive seedlings in the ancient terrace
- $100Covers a day of legal defense
- $500Funds a court filing
Stand with Alice
One-time or monthly — every gift goes to the legal defense and land restoration of Al-Makhrour.
Donate nowSecure · tax-deductible where applicable