US envoy Huckabee calls for accountability after Israeli settlers attack church in West Bank village - War on Gaza
In early July, Israeli settlers carried out an arson attack on the village of Taybeh in the area of the ruins of the Byzantine-era Church of Saint George, which dates back to the fifth century.
The attack came as violence against Palestinians soars in the West Bank, and last week saw an American-Palestinian killed by Israeli settlers near Ramallah.
Ambassador Huckabee, an evangelical Christian and staunch advocate for Israel, said his trip to Taybeh aimed to "express solidarity with the people who just want to live their lives in peace, to be able to go to their own land, to be able to go to their place of worship".
"It doesn't matter whether it's a mosque, a church, a synagogue," he told journalists.
"It's unacceptable to commit an act of sacrilege by desecrating a place that is supposed to be a place of worship."
"We will certainly insist that those who carry out acts of terror and violence in Taybeh or anywhere be found, be prosecuted, not just reprimanded. That's not enough," he said.
"People need to pay a price for doing something that destroys that which belongs not just to other people, but that which belongs to God."
The rare condemnation came days after an Israeli air strike targeted the Holy Family Church in northern Gaza, killing two people and wounding several others, including a parish priest, Gaza civil defence, and church officials said on Thursday.
In the villages and communities around Taybeh, Palestinian authorities reported that settlers had killed three people and damaged or destroyed multiple water sources in the past two weeks alone.
Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967, and violence has surged in the territory since Israel's war on the Gaza Strip began in October 2023.
Since then, Israeli troops or settlers have killed at least 957 Palestinians, including civilians, in the West Bank, according to health ministry figures.
Over the same period, at least 36 Israelis, including soldiers, have been killed in Palestinian attacks or during Israeli military operations, according to official figures.
Huckabee, a longtime outspoken supporter of Israeli settlement expansion in the occupied Palestinian territories -- considered illegal under international law -- on Tuesday demanded an aggressive investigation and accountability after Israeli settlers beat a Palestinian-American to death in the West Bank.
It was a sign of rare public pressure against US ally Israel by President Donald Trump's administration.
*This story was edited by Ahram Online.
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