Latest news with #Taybeh
Al Jazeera
a day ago
- Politics
- Al Jazeera
Church leaders, diplomats, condemn Israeli settler violence in West Bank
Top church leaders and diplomats have called on Israeli settlers to be held accountable during a visit to the predominantly Christian town of Taybeh in the occupied West Bank, after settlers intensified attacks on the area in recent weeks. Representatives from more than 20 countries including the United Kingdom, Russia, China, Japan, Jordan, and the European Union, were among the delegates who visited the village in the West Bank on Monday. Speaking in Taybeh, Greek Orthodox Patriarch Theophilos III and Latin Patriarch Pierbattista Pizzaballa denounced an incident last week when settlers set fires near the community's church. They said that Israeli authorities failed to respond to emergency calls for help from the Palestinian community. In a separate statement, the patriarchs and heads of churches in Jerusalem demanded an investigation into the incident and called for the settlers to be held accountable by the Israeli authorities, 'who facilitate and enable their presence around Taybeh'. The church leaders also said that settlers had brought their cattle to graze on Palestinian lands in the area, set fire to several homes last month, and put up a sign reading 'there is no future for you here'. Al Jazeera's Nida Ibrahim, reporting from Doha, said church leaders have been calling this a 'systemic and targeted attack' against Christians. 'About 50,000 of them live in the occupied West Bank, a small but very proud minority,' Ibrahim said. 'They also consider themselves under attack, not just because they're Christians but because they're Palestinians.' The church has been trying for years to 'enhance the steadfastness of the Christian community in Palestine', Ibrahim said. 'We've been seeing how Israeli settlers have been pushing them out of their lands, out of their homes.' Settlers, who are often armed, are backed by Israeli army soldiers and regularly carry out attacks against Palestinians, their lands, and property. Several rights groups have documented repeated instances where Israeli settlers in the West Bank ransack Palestinian neighbourhoods and towns, burning homes and vehicles. Assaults have grown in scale and intensity since Israel's brutal war on Gaza began in October 2023. These assaults also include large-scale incursions by Israeli forces into Palestinian towns and cities across the West Bank that have killed hundreds of Palestinians and displaced tens of thousands. Pizzaballa, the top Catholic cleric in Jerusalem, said he believed the West Bank was becoming a lawless area. 'The only law [in the West Bank] is that of power, of those who have the force, not the law. We must work for the law to return to this part of the country, so anyone can appeal to the law to enforce their rights,' Pizzaballa told reporters. He and Theophilos prayed together at the Church of St George, whose religious site dates back centuries, adjacent to the area where settlers ignited the fires. The visit comes as Palestinians report a new surge of settler violence. On Monday, Israeli settlers and soldiers launched several more attacks across the West Bank, including in Bethlehem, where settlers uprooted hundreds of olive trees in al-Maniya village, southeast of the city, and Israeli authorities demolished a four-storey residential building. The head of the al-Maniya village council, Zayed Kawazba, told Wafa news agency that a group of settlers stormed al-Qarn in the centre of al-Maniya, set up four tents and uprooted approximately 1,500 olive saplings belonging to families from the al-Motawer and Jabarin clans. A day earlier, hundreds descended on the village of Al-Mazraa ash-Sharqiya, south of Taybeh, for the funeral of two young men killed during a settler attack on Friday. The occupied West Bank is home to more than three million Palestinians who live under harsh Israeli military rule, with the Palestinian Authority governing in limited areas separated from each other by a myriad of Israeli checkpoints. Israel has so far built more than 100 settlements across the West Bank, which are home to about 500,000 settlers who live illegally on private Palestinian land.
Reuters
a day ago
- Politics
- Reuters
Clerics accuse West Bank settlers of attacking Christian sites
TAYBEH, West Bank, July 14 (Reuters) - Christian leaders accused Israeli settlers on Monday of attacking sacred sites in the West Bank, in violence that one said was forcing some to consider quitting the occupied territory. The Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem, Theophilos III - visiting the Christian town of Taybeh with other Jerusalem-based clerics - said settlers had started a fire near a cemetery and a 5th century church there last week. "These actions are a direct and intentional threat to our local community ... but also to the historic and religious heritage," the patriarch told diplomats and journalists at a press conference in Taybeh. Settlers had also attacked homes in the area, he said. "We call for an immediate and transparent investigation on why the Israeli police did not respond to emergency calls from the local community and why these abhorrent actions continue to go unpunished," he added. Israel's government spokesperson did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. Israel's government had previously said that any acts of violence by civilians are unacceptable and that individuals should not take the law into their own hands. During the visit, the heads of the churches led locals in prayer as candles flickered in the ruins of the 5th century church of St George. They spoke with residents who described their fears. B'Tselem and other rights groups say settler violence in the West Bank has risen since the start of Israel's war against Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza in late 2023. Dozens of Israelis have also been killed in Palestinian street attacks in recent years and the Israeli military has intensified raids across the West Bank. Palestinian health authorities and witnesses said two men, including a U.S. citizen, were killed by settlers during a confrontation on Friday night. Fears over violence were pushing Christians to leave the West Bank, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Roman Catholic Patriarch of Jerusalem since 2020, said. "Unfortunately, the temptation to emigrate is there because of the situation," he added. "This time it's very difficult to see how and when this will finish, and especially for the youth to talk about hope, trust for the future." Around 50,000 Christian Palestinians live in Jerusalem and in the West Bank, an area that includes many of the faith's most sacred sites including Bethlehem where believers say Jesus was born. Around 700,000 Israeli settlers live among 2.7 million Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, territories Israel captured from Jordan in the 1967 war, which Palestinians see as part of a future state.
Arab News
a day ago
- Politics
- Arab News
Leaders of Holy Land churches condemn Israeli settler violence during a West Bank visit
TAYBEH, West Bank: Top church leaders in the Holy Land asserted Monday that Israeli authorities 'facilitate and enable' the presence of Israeli settlers who have intensified attacks in recent weeks on the only entirely Christian Palestinian village remaining in the occupied West Bank. Speaking in the village, Taybeh, on a rare solidarity visit, Greek Orthodox Patriarch Theophilos III and Latin Patriarch Pierbattista Pizzaballa denounced an incident last week when settlers set fires near the community's church. They said that Israeli authorities failed to respond to emergency calls for help from the Palestinian community. In a separate statement, the patriarchs and heads of churches in Jerusalem demanded an investigation into the incident and called for the settlers to be held accountable by the Israeli authorities, 'who facilitate and enable their presence around Taybeh.' The church leaders also said that settlers had brought their cattle to graze on Palestinian lands in the area, set fire to several homes last month and put up a sign reading 'there is no future for you here.' Israel's military did not immediately respond to the allegations. Pizzaballa, the top Catholic cleric in Jerusalem, said he believed the West Bank was becoming a lawless area. 'The only law (in the West Bank) is that of power, of those who have the force, not the law. We must work for the law to return to this part of the country, so anyone can appeal to the law to enforce their rights,' Pizzaballa told reporters. He and Theophilos prayed together in the church of St. George, whose religious site dates back centuries, adjacent to the area where settlers ignited the fires. The statement from the heads of churches comes as Palestinians report a surge of settler violence. On Sunday, hundreds descended on the village of Al-Mazraa a-Sharqiya, south of Taybeh, for the funeral of two young men killed during a settler attack on Friday. The Christian community in Israel and the Palestinian territories has dwindled as a percentage of the overall population over the decades, with experts citing lower birthrates and emigration by people fleeing conflict or seeking better opportunities abroad. Christians now make up a tiny percentage of the population.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Orthodox leaders demand Israel investigate settler violence near West Bank church
The most senior church leaders in Israel and the Palestinian territories gathered in the West Bank village of Taybeh on Monday to denounce rising settler violence against Palestinians and Palestinian property in the area. (AP video shot by Fernanda Pesce)
The Guardian
2 days ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
Bishops call on UK government to take action over settler violence in West Bank
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.
