Last Christian Town In West Bank Attacked And Besieged By Israeli Settlers
The last entirely-Christian town in the Israeli-controlled West Bank is enduring a wave of attacks by violent Jewish settlers, a local church leader says, prompting families to flee and leading clergy to declare the town is 'no longer safe' for its inhabitants. Ominously, settlers have also set up an 'outpost' on the fringe of that town — Taybeh, Ramallah — a 4,500-year-old community with huge significance in the story of Jesus Christ.
'The town, which the Gospel of John (11:54) refers to as 'Ephraim' — the place Jesus withdrew to before his passion — is no longer safe for its people today,' Father Bashar Fawadleh, parish priest of Taybeh's Church of Christ the Redeemer, told the Catholic, Arabic-language ACI MENA news service. 'We do not live in peace but in daily fear and siege...Since last October, more than 10 families have left Taybeh due to fear from ongoing violence and harassment.'
This and other videos embedded below are circulating on social media, purportedly capturing the settlers' latest attacks on Taybeh this week ( BBC confirms an attack took place on Wednesday):
https://twitter.com/IhabHassane/status/1937992402725187788
This is only the latest in an ongoing pattern of aggression directed toward Taybeh's inhabitants, a pattern that has also included stealing farm equipment, and destroying crops with fire or by releasing settlers' cattle to devour them, Catholic News Agency reports.
Settlers have established an outpost on the town's eastern edge, on the remains of a farmhouse abandoned by Christians who'd fled about a year ago under the growing settler campaign of violence and intimidation. An 'outpost' is a Jewish settlement on Palestinian land that's not authorized by the Israeli government. Outposts typically begin with something as small as a tent or a van, and are frequently situated on hilltops or agricultural land. In the case of 'herding outposts,' settlers will bring livestock that they allow to graze over a wide area with the goal of establishing a larger claim. Despite outposts' lack of government permission at the outset, the Israeli government often legalizes them retroactively, cementing the Palestinians' loss of the land. (Note, there are both Christian and Muslim Palestinians, and both varieties experience the iniquities associated with being non-Jewish in the West Bank.)
Israeli settlers attack the Christian Palestinian village of Taybeh. Meanwhile, if Christians or Muslims defend themselves, the Israeli military will kill them. pic.twitter.com/OHITkNqobp — Khalil Sayegh (@KhalilJeries) June 25, 2025
The settler outpost on Taybeh's periphery sits in an economically-essential agricultural zone that comprises 4,200 acres out of the town's total 5,900 acres. The land is used for olive groves and seasonal crops, along with raising poultry and sheep. In the usual sequence of events, Jews in the outposts begin harassing the Palestinians whose families have long lived off that land, preventing them from accessing it. Such behavior is often carried out as Israeli security forces stand by and watch — often intervening only when Palestinians fight back.
Local Christians say this agricultural-deprivation tactic is exactly what's playing out in Taybeh:
During the latest olive harvest season, for the second year in a row, farmers were barred from accessing their land near the Rimmonim settlement — which was built on confiscated Taybeh land — resulting in either theft or complete spoilage of the olive crop. Approximately 20 families were physically assaulted while trying to reach their land….
'These days, settlers are grazing their cows on a hill planted with olive and barley fields right next to people's homes. Locals see this as part of a systematic effort to strangle them economically and push them out,' [said Father Fawadleh] — ACI MENA / Catholic News Agency
Horrific night in the West Bank: Israeli settlers are currently attacking the Christian village of Taybeh, near Ramallah—setting homes on fire and shooting at residents. pic.twitter.com/Ug8UzVg94b — Ihab Hassan (@IhabHassane) June 25, 2025
Here, a Palestinian Christian explains how he, his family and fellow Taybeh residents are preyed upon by West Bank settlers seeking to take over the land:
"Jesus Christ came here a week before he was crucified," a Palestinian in Taybeh told me. Taybeh is the largest Palestinian Christian community in the West Bank. Since October 7th, armed Jewish settlers and the Israeli army, emboldened by the war in Gaza, have been terrorizing… pic.twitter.com/0h1c4UPpuh — Jeremy Loffredo (@loffredojeremy) March 31, 2024
Click here to read more…
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Tribune
16 hours ago
- Daily Tribune
Iran holds state funeral for top brass slain in Israel war
Iran held a state funeral Saturday for some 60 scientists and commanders killed in its war with Israel, after its top diplomat condemned the latest White House tirade against supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. State television aired footage of thousands of black-clad mourners chanting "Death to America" and "Death to Israel" as they held aloft photographs of the dead. "Boom, boom, Tel Aviv," read one banner, referring to the retaliatory missile fire launched by Iran against Israel during their 12-day war. State television showed mock-ups of ballistic missiles like those Iran fired at Israel alongside coffins draped in Iranian flags. President Masoud Pezeshkian attended the ceremony as did Rear Admiral Ali Shamkhani, a senior adviser to Khamenei who used a walking cane after being wounded in an Israeli strike in the war, the television images showed. But the supreme leader himself stayed away. Khamenei had delivered a video address on Thursday to proclaim "victory" in the conflict which ended with a truce earlier this week. - No surrender - As the funeral procession wound its way across the spawling metropolis, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi paid tribute to the war effort in a post on his Instagram account. "Iranians gave blood, not land; gave their loved ones, not honour; they withstood a thousand-ton rain of bombs, but did not surrender," the top diplomat said, adding that Iran does not recognise the word "surrender." Among the dead was armed forces chief of staff Major General Mohammad Bagheri, who will be buried with his wife and journalist daughter who were killed alongside him. Nuclear scientist Mohammad Mehdi Tehranchi, also killed in the attacks, will be laid to rest with his wife. Revolutionary Guards commander Hossein Salami, killed on the first day of the war, will be buried on Sunday. Of the 60 people who are to be laid to rest after the ceremony, four are children and four are women. - 'RUN to 'Daddy'' - The United States carried out strikes on three Iranian nuclear sites last weekend, joining its ally Israel's bombardment of Iran's nuclear facilities. Both Israel and Iran claimed victory in the war. Israel said it had "thwarted Iran's nuclear project" and threatened renewed military action if it attempted to rebuild it. Washington insisted its strikes had set Iran's nuclear programme back by years. Khamenei said they had done "nothing significant". Trump launched an outspoken tirade against the Iranian leader on his Truth Social platform on Friday for claiming to have won the war. The US president claimed that he had had known "EXACTLY where (Khamenei) was sheltered, and would not let Israel, or the U.S. Armed Forces... terminate his life". "I SAVED HIM FROM A VERY UGLY AND IGNOMINIOUS DEATH, and he does not have to say, 'THANK YOU, PRESIDENT TRUMP!'" Trump said. Trump said he had been working in recent days on the possible removal of sanctions against Iran, one of Tehran's main demands. "But no, instead I get hit with a statement of anger, hatred, and disgust, and immediately dropped all work on sanction relief, and more." The Iranian foreign minister hit back on Saturday, using the US president's trademark capitals. "If President Trump is genuine about wanting a deal, he should put aside the disrespectful and unacceptable tone towards Iran's Supreme Leader, Grand Ayatollah Khamenei," Araghchi posted on X. "The Great and Powerful Iranian People, who showed the world that the Israeli regime had NO CHOICE but to RUN to 'Daddy' to avoid being flattened by our Missiles, do not take kindly to Threats and Insults." Israeli strikes killed at least 627 civilians, the Iranian health ministry said. Iran's retaliatory fire on Israel killed 28 people, according to Israeli figures. After the US strikes, Trump said new nuclear talks with Iran were set to begin next week. But Iran denied any such plan, and its parliament passed legislation this week suspending cooperation with UN nuclear watchdog the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Daily Tribune
16 hours ago
- Daily Tribune
Bahrain renews firm support for Independent Palestinian State
Bahrain has reaffirmed its unwavering support for the Palestinian people and their right to establish an independent state with Jerusalem as its capital. Member of Parliament Mamdouh Al Saleh, Bahrain's representative to the Arab Parliament's Palestine Committee, reiterated this commitment during a meeting held in Cairo. He emphasised both the Kingdom's official stance and the deep-rooted public support for the Palestinian cause, describing it as central to the Arab and Islamic world. 'Bahrain will continue to stand with the Palestinian people in regional and international forums,' Al Saleh said during the closing session of the first term of the Arab Parliament's fourth legislative chapter. He called on Arab parliaments to intensify efforts in defending Palestinian rights and to coordinate more closely with other legislative bodies across the world. Such collaboration, he noted, is essential to mobilise pressure for the creation of a Palestinian state in accordance with the Arab Peace Initiative and relevant UN resolutions. The session, attended by members of the Palestine Committee, addressed the latest political and humanitarian developments. Delegates strongly condemned Israeli military operations targeting Palestinian civilians, labelling them as crimes against humanity. They also rejected policies of forced displacement, land annexation, and settlement expansion, while warning of worsening humanitarian conditions in Gaza and the West Bank. Bahrain's participation in the meeting reflected a broader foreign policy vision led by His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, which, as Al Saleh highlighted, champions just peace, dialogue, and mutual respect while opposing violence and coercion. The meeting concluded with a unified call on the UN Security Council, the General Assembly, and international parliaments to take urgent action to halt ongoing violations and uphold Palestinian rights, including the right to self-determination and statehood.
Daily Tribune
16 hours ago
- Daily Tribune
Lebanon says 1 killed, 25 wounded in strikes as Israel blames death on Hezbollah arms
AFP | Beirut Lebanon's health ministry said a woman was killed and 25 other people wounded in Israeli strikes yesterday in the country's south, while the Israeli military blamed Hezbollah munitions for the death. Israel has kept up regular strikes on Lebanon, particularly in the south, since a November 27 ceasefire meant to end over a year of hostilities, including two months of all-out war that left Hezbollah severely weakened. An 'Israel enemy strike on an apartment in Nabatiyeh' killed a woman and wounded 14 other people, the ministry said in a statement carried by the official National News Agency. The NNA said an Israeli drone targeted the apartment. Israeli military spokesman Avichay Adraee said on social media that the army 'did not target any civilian building'. The NNA earlier reported 'a wave of successive heavy strikes' in several other areas in the Nabatiyeh region that the health ministry said wounded seven people. Later Friday, the ministry said four more people were wounded in an 'Israeli drone strike' in Shaqra, elsewhere in the country's south.
