Bishops call on UK government to take action over settler violence in West Bank

The Guardian

a day ago

Four senior Church of England bishops have called on the UK government to intensify the use of sanctions and to be willing to suspend its trade agreement with Israel over settler violence in the occupied West Bank.
The situation there is 'in freefall with increasing levels of settler violence and intimidation against Palestinians,' the bishops say in a letter to the Guardian. The settlers are acting with impunity, they add. 'Settler violence is state violence by any other name.'
The letter is signed by Guli Francis-Dehqani, the bishop of Chelmsford; Rachel Treweek, bishop of Gloucester; Graham Usher, bishop of Norwich; and Christopher Chessun, bishop of Southwark. All four sit in the House of Lords.
It highlights the situation in Taybeh, the last remaining Christian-majority village in the West Bank, where there have been 'a series of systematic attacks by settlers on the town's land and holy sites, including St George's, its fifth-century church'.
The letter says: 'As well as threatening the town's security and livelihood, these attacks undermine the dignity of its Christian residents and threaten their historical and religious heritage. Residents fear expulsion from their land and homes. This is part of a wider strategy of control and coercion rendering life unviable for Palestinians across the occupied territory.'
According to church leaders in Taybeh, settlers have damaged olive trees and prevented Palestinian farmers from accessing their land. Illegal settlement outposts have expanded in the area under military protection, they say.
On Friday, a Palestinian-American man was killed allegedly by Israeli settlers while visiting relatives in the West Bank. Sayfollah 'Saif' Musallet, 20, was reportedly beaten by settlers on his family's farm in an area near Ramallah. Another Palestinian man, Razek Hussein al-Shalabi, 23, was fatally shot during the attack and was left to bleed to death, the Palestinian health ministry said.
Two weeks earlier, more than 100 settlers rampaged through the village of Kafr Malik, near Ramallah, killing three men and injuring several more people.
The Israeli military has been accused by rights groups of standing by or even helping as settlers raid Palestinian villages, where they vandalise property and attack residents. Arrests of settlers are rare.
The bishops call on the UK government to take action in the form of sanctions against individuals, illegal settler outposts and organisations that support violence, and by suspending the UK-Israel trade agreement.
'The UK government has a legal and moral duty to ensure Britain is taking all necessary steps to address settler violence, which threatens not just the peace of the region but the continued presence of Christians in this Holy Land,' they say.
At the C of E's ruling body, the General Synod, which is meeting in York this weekend, the Rt Rev David Innes, the bishop responsible for Europe, expressed 'disappointment' that there was no debate scheduled on events in Gaza and the West Bank.
There was deep concern and horror about what was happening in the West Bank and Gaza, he told representatives, and appealed for time to 'be given to this appalling international situation'.
Hosam Naoum, the archbishop of Jerusalem, was due to address the synod on Sunday but was unable to do so due to ill health.