This paper examines quality of life, stress, and insecurity in the West Bank, and how the core Palestinian value of sumud, or resilience, moderates the negative impact of the environment on these factors under sustained military occupation. The Palestinian Territories have experienced political instability and humanitarian traumas for nearly seventy years. Entire generations of Palestinians have grown up knowing nothing but conflict and occupation, with little indication that the status quo will shift in a positive direction in the foreseeable future. High levels of PTSD, anxiety, and other mental and physical conditions resulting from consistent stress and a fragile infrastructure have been reported in the Palestinian population. However, Palestinian society has managed to not only survive decades of obstacles and displacement, but also thrive at the grassroots level in terms of art, education and literacy, agriculture, entrepreneurship, and other sectors. To explain this disparity, Palestinians will point to the concept of sumud, which translates loosely into “steadfastness,” a sense of resilience that is built upon the fact that they still exist despite persistent struggle and continued expulsion. The shared narrative of Palestinian disenfranchisement, from the Nakba to the current siege of Gaza, occupation of the West Bank, and massive refugee population, has seemingly only strengthened this resilience despite mounting political, social, and economic obstacles. Using primary survey data, this population study assessed several components that contribute to quality of life, including insecurity and stress, in the West Bank. Results were compared with demographically similar participants from Jordan in order to capture the direct impact of the West Bank occupation. The results indicated that factors traditionally associated with poor outcomes in these contexts, such as low socioeconomic status, were surprisingly moderated in the participants, a finding that was further examined in follow-up field research, including interviews. I posit that the role of resilience as a core cultural value in the studied population, buoyed by factors such as social support and strong ideology, led to these unexpectedly high outcomes. The concept of sumud in Palestinian history will be described and applied to the Palestinian population of today. This study suggests that resilience can serve as a moderating factor in sustaining the motivation of vulnerable populations to overcome social obstacles and the consequences of political instability.