Sixteen-year-old Sally Nassar has grown up in the West Bank, but now she would like to move to another country. As with others of her generation, she sees no future with the instability and war, Israeli checkpoints, roadblocks and land seizures.
Her mother, Shahinda Nassar, understands, but her family has lived near the Church of the Nativity for generations.
“We want to live in these places and to stay here rooted in our homeland,” says Mrs. Nassar. She says it is hard for her to have one of her children asking to leave.
She says Sally “once told me, ‘What are you waiting for? Are you waiting for us to die, to be killed here?’”
Miss Nassar says freedom feels distant, and daily life is unpredictable.
“The political situation here truly dictates how young people plan their entire lives,” says Miss Nassar. “Every decision, big or small, has to take into account the checkpoints, the potential for things to change without warning. It affects everything.
“I don’t think I have a future here,” says Miss Nassar. “I don’t think anything is going to change how this whole thing is and how dangerous it feels.”
Mrs. Nassar can see things from her daughter’s viewpoint.
“Two words that I stopped using: hope and peace,” says Mrs. Nassar. “Because we can’t find hope anywhere, and I have replaced hope with faith.”
The Nassars speak of their lives in this video. Then read “Landscape of Loss” in the June 2025 edition of ONE magazine.