Despite these challenges, resilience and culturally rooted protective factors persist. Family cohesion, community support, faith, political socialization, and engagement in collective practices, alongside the culturally specific concept of sumud (steadfastness), contribute to psychological coping and a sense of agency (Giacaman, Citation2020; Jabali et al., Citation2024; Wispelwey & Jamei, Citation2020). For Palestinians, ‘Sumud is a central component of resilience and provides a meta-cognitive framework which Palestinians use to interpret, cope and respond to ongoing injustice and traumatic experiences, engendering a sense of purpose and meaning. It is both a value and an action that manifests via individual and collective action to protect family and community survival, wellbeing, dignity, Palestinian identity and culture, and a determination to remain on the land’ (Hammad & Tribe, Citation2021). Moreover, parental guidance, intergenerational storytelling, and communal mobilization reinforce identity, solidarity, and purpose, highlighting the interplay between coping strategies and psychological adaptation.