Shops remain closed and streets fall quiet as a general strike is observed across the occupied West Bank [Getty]
The occupied West Bank witnessed a near-total shutdown on Wednesday due to a general strike in protest against Israel’s recently approved death penalty law targeting Palestinians.
Public and private institutions, including schools, universities, banks, and shops, were all closed for the strike, while bakeries remained open.
The Fatah Movement had called for the strike on Tuesday.
Streets in Ramallah, the seat of the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority, appeared deserted, with establishments committing to the strike.
A demonstration in the city called for by various human rights groups saw people march through several streets with the participation of different Palestinian political and religious figures.
Protesters raised flags and held solidarity banners, condemning the Israeli law to execute Palestinians.
The Knesset, Israel’s parliament, passed a controversial law allowing the death penalty for Palestinians accused of carrying out attacks against Israelis. The legislation was approved late on Monday with 62 votes, in a move widely criticised as discriminatory and in violation of international law.
In the 120-member Knesset, 48 MKs opposed the bill, and there was one abstention.
The law applies to those accused of “deliberately” killing Israelis, who number 117 in Israeli prisons, according to the Palestinian Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs.
The new law, pushed by far-right Israeli politicians, will instruct military courts to impose capital punishment on Palestinians convicted of killing Israelis in acts defined as “terrorism”. It takes effect within 30 days, and crucially, does not apply to Jewish Israelis convicted of the same crime.
Palestinians say their attacks are in retaliation for Israel’s decades-long occupation and continued military and settler assaults.
More than 9,500 Palestinians are currently held in Israeli prisons, including 350 children and 73 women. According to Palestinian and Israeli human rights organisations, they face torture, starvation, and medical neglect, which has led to the deaths of dozens of detainees.
Arrests have spiked since the start of the Gaza war in 2023, in which over 72,000 Palestinians have been killed. In the West Bank, over 1,000 Palestinians have been killed in that same period, including by armed settlers.
