'Footnote in history': Australian woman fears for the future of family's ancient village

SBS Australia

13-07-2025

Dena Dahdal has fond memories of childhood summers in the village where both her parents were born and her cousins still live. "Dad thought it was important we knew our historical roots and where we come from ... so we'd go back often," the Sydney history teacher told SBS News. "It's where Jesus walked the same streets that my ancestors walked."
Taybeh is widely considered to be the last wholly Christian town in the occupied West Bank. The Christian New Testament describes Jesus staying in the town, then known as Ephraim two thousand years ago.
"We used to play hide and seek in everybody's houses, the neighbour's houses. I always felt safe when I was in Taybeh," Dahdal said.
But now she says her family there are worried, feeling threatened and insecure.
Dena Dahdal (top left) with her family in Palestinian village Taybeh. Source: Supplied / Dena Dahdal A site steeped in history attacked A recent alleged arson attack by Israeli settlers right next to the archaeological site of a fifth-century church has made locals fear for the village's very existence. Last week, Taybeh residents saw settlers setting fire to the fields around the Church of St. George and nearby cemetery, according to the Times of Israel.
The Church no longer has a roof or all four walls but the original walls and mosaic tiles built by Christians in the 5th century remains.
The church of St George in Taybeh was built in the 5th century. Source: Supplied / Dena Dahdal Parish priest of Christ the Redeemer Latin church in Taybeh, Father Bashar Fawadleh that people in the village are "so afraid" after a fire was lit next to the church last week. "I'm so sad that I can see the fire beside the church and beside the mosaic and the land," he told SBS News. "Why do you make something like that against us, when we don't have any problems against you?" He said villagers ran to put out the fire. Dahdal says the Church archaeological site is a very special place for her and her family and she felt angry at the thought of its destruction. "It's an ancient relic and something that can never be replaced," she said.
"This village is ... a continuous thread of Christian presence. This church is a symbol of it. So the fact the fire was so close it's just so telling about what's happening in the village at large."
'Cannot remain silent': Faith leaders issue warning Faith leaders among the Palestinian Christian community have raised serious concerns about escalating violence and harassment at the hands of Israeli settlers in the past week. The heads of three churches from the village have released a joint statement condemning the attacks, saying this was the culmination of recent weeks of provocations, and that more than half of the town's territory has become a target for illegal settlement.
The settlers were routinely seen grazing cattle on the land, damaging olive trees central to the livelihoods of Taybeh's 1,200 residents.
"We cannot remain silent in the face of these relentless attacks that threaten our very existence on this land," the heads of the Greek Orthodox Church, Latin Church and Melkite Greek Catholic Church wrote in a joint statement.
"Forcibly removing farmers from their land, threatening their churches, and encircling their towns is a wound to the living heart of this nation."
Taybeh villagers say Israeli settlers have deliberately grazed cattle next to their olive tree crops so that the cows will destroy them. Source: Supplied They called for an immediate and transparent investigation into the attacks. Taybeh mayor Suleiman Khouriah recently said in a statement: "Entering these lands now comes with serious danger."
"They've prevented us from harvesting our olives, most of which are located in the restricted area we are banned from entering."
Father Daoud Khoury of the Greek Orthodox Church, Father Jacques-Noble Abed of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church, and Father Bashar Fawadleh of the Latin Church in Taybeh spoke out about an alleged arson attack in Taybeh. Source: Supplied Fawadleh said Palestinian people are the "living stones of the land" and won't move despite provocations. In a statement to SBS, the Israeli Defence Forces said it acts decisively against any manifestations of violence within its jurisdiction. The IDF is not aware of any new checkpoints being placed in the village or its surroundings. Last year the International Court of Justice issued an advisory ruling that Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories including the West Bank and settlements there are illegal and must be removed.
Israel captured the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem in the 1967 Middle East war and has since built settlements in the West Bank and steadily expanded them.
Dena Dahdal regularly visits the Palestinian village Taybeh. Source: Supplied / Dena Dahdal Israeli leaders argue the territories are not occupied in legal terms because they are on disputed lands, but the United Nations and most of the international community regard them as occupied territory. Dahdal fears Christian Palestinians could become "a footnote in Palestinian history", issuing a plea to worldwide followers of the faith. "I want the world, especially Christians, to stop romanticising the Holy Land while ignoring people who live there," Dahdal said. "If Christians around the world truly care about the land of Christ, they should care about the people who carry his message.
"Taybeh needs more than sympathy, it needs protection."