The Digester
politics

West Bank strike protests Israeli law allowing death penalty for Palestinians

Palestinians across the occupied West Bank shut shops and staged demonstrations on April 1 after Israel passed a law making the death penalty the default for Palestinians tried in military courts for deadly attacks.

Apr 1st 2026 · Palestine

Insights

  • Shops and public institutions closed across Hebron, Ramallah and Nablus during the April 1 strike.
  • Fatah called the general strike in protest of the new law.
  • The law, passed March 30, makes death the default sentence for West Bank Palestinians convicted by Israeli military courts of deadly attacks.
  • Palestinians in the West Bank are automatically tried in Israeli military courts, unlike Israelis who face civilian courts.
  • The law is not retroactive and critics say it entrenches a separate and harsher legal track.
  • Protests included marches and tyres burned at the Qalandia checkpoint.

Sources