Israeli settlers again attack last all-Christian village in the West Bank
Israeli settlers attacked Taybeh, the last entirely Christian town in the West Bank, on June 10, setting fire to agricultural land and throwing Molotov cocktails at homes, according to residents and journalists on the ground.
Israeli settlers attacked Taybeh, the last entirely Christian town in the West Bank, on June 10, setting fire to agricultural land and throwing Molotov cocktails at homes, according to residents and journalists on the ground.
Agriculture, including olive groves, wheat fields, and barley crops, is a key source of income in Taybeh. Residents expressed fear that the destruction of farmland by the fires will rob many families of their livelihoods.
The Vulnerable People Project (VPP), a U.S.-based Catholic apostolate, reported that settlers ignited farmland on Taybeh's eastern hillside, hurled firebombs at homes, and attempted to set the village's gas station on fire.
Ihab Hassan, a journalist and director of VPP’s SaveWestBankChristians project, shared additional footage from the scene and reported that settlers had also opened fire near homes and civilians.
Photos of the aftermath of the arson attacks show an entire mountainside burned and crops destroyed.
Hassan later reported that after torching the fields, settlers had gathered near the entrance to Bethlehem, where they threw stones at passing vehicles. He said the attackers were "under the protection of the Israeli army."
As Zeale News previously reported, settlers attacked Taybeh in February and installed an iron gate at the village entrance before seizing the town's quarry, declaring a takeover, and raising an Israeli flag over it in March. In May, settlers established a new outpost near Palestinian homes, fenced off land surrounding the village, cut fencing around agricultural property, and prevented some residents from accessing their land, according to reports from activists and advocacy groups on the ground.
Settlers torched fields, attempted to burn a school, and set homes on fire with families still inside across at least nine West Bank locations on May 18, while Israeli forces blocked fire trucks from reaching some of the affected areas.
Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, warned in an April pastoral letter that conditions in the occupied West Bank were "deteriorating day by day" and that expanding settlements risked creating a "permanent occupation" with no rule of law.
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