Priest warns: Christian town in Holy Land no longer safe amid settler attacks

Catholic news agency ^ | 6-26-25 | Sahelia

[wardaddy]

n a disturbing and increasingly frequent pattern, the Palestinian town of Taybeh, located east of Ramallah and known as the last remaining town in the West Bank inhabited entirely by Christians, faces ongoing attacks by Israeli settlers targeting residents, their property, and farmlands. According to ACI MENA, CNA’s Arabic-language news partner, in recent weeks settlers have established a new outpost on the eastern edge of Taybeh atop the ruins of a farmhouse whose owners were displaced roughly a year ago. The outpost was erected in a vital agricultural zone, spanning around 17,000 dunums (roughly 4,200 acres), which serves as a key economic lifeline for the town. The area hosts thousands of olive trees, poultry and sheep farms, and wide fields used for seasonal crops. It forms the bulk of Taybeh’s total land area of about 24,000 dunums (about 5,900 acres).

[Cronos]

El, what is the reaction in Israel?

[skinny old man]

Load and lock.Shootem...

[Cronos]

Taybeh (referred to as “Ephraim” in the Gospel of John 11:54) is home to about 1,500 residents, primarily Latin Catholics, Greek Orthodox, and Greek Melkite Catholics.

Father Bashar Fawadleh, the parish priest of the Church of Christ the Redeemer, stated, “We are living under the fire, barbarism, and brutality of the settlers … and under the direct protection of the Israeli army.”

On November 29, 2019, settlers attacked the home of the Basir family in Taybeh, burning their car and leaving hostile graffiti, including the phrase “Closed military zone” in Hebrew. The attack occurred at 2 a.m., and the car burned until 6 a.m. Rollin Basir, a father of three, expressed fears that future attacks could target his home and family. Father Johnny Abu Khalil, a local priest, described the incident as a danger to the entire community, emphasizing that settlers do not distinguish between Palestinian Christians and Muslims, viewing all Palestinians as targets.

In April 2019, a group of French nuns touring Taybeh’s mountains was reportedly verbally assaulted and detained by settlers for hours. One settler allegedly exposed himself, causing the nuns to panic and initially decide to leave Taybeh. After intervention by the French consulate, they returned

[Eleutheria5]

One Israeli’s reaction: WTF!

[HockeyPop]

Sounds similar to the range wars (grazing sheep) in Co and Wy of the early 20th century.

[HockeyPop]

My father and family from Carbon CountyWy. Heard the stories growing up.

[lightman]

Indigenous Christians in Israel are being squeezed in the vice jaws of Zionist “settlers” on one side and Islamic Jihadists on the other side.

[mairdie]

Explains why settlers are so often hated. Administration needs to make public if ignoring their brutality is policy, or just some troublemakers they’re having trouble keeping under control.

[BenLurkin]

Palestinian town of Taybeh?

Don’t they mean Israeli town?

[HockeyPop]

More likely disputes over land without clear title. One party grows olives and barley. The other grazes sheep. If the parties themselves cannot negotiate or show clear title then it rests with the court.

[mac_truck]

them again.

[Lil Flower]

>>> Don’t they mean Israeli town?<<<

Did you read the article? The town is in the West Bank, inhabited by Christian’s

[af_vet_1981]

... the last remaining town in the West Bank inhabited entirely by Christians ...

This seems to be false, so there be other elements that are false as well. The Moslem population of Taybeh seems to be growing faster than the Christian population.
1. In the 1922 census of Palestine conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Al Taibeh had a population of 961: 954 Christians and 7 Muslims,[29] where 663 were Orthodox, 249 Roman Catholic, 60 Greek Catholic (Melkite Catholic) and 2 were Anglican.[30]
2. At the time of the 1931 census, Taybeh had a population of 1,125; 1,038 Christians and 87 Muslims living in 262 houses.[32] The population had increased in 1945 to 1,330; 1,180 Christians and 150 Muslims,
3. In the wake of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, and after the 1949 Armistice Agreements, Taybeh came under Jordanian rule. The Jordanian census of 1961 found 1,677 inhabitants in Taybeh, of whom 1,176 were Christian. [That would imply 501 Moslems]
4. Since the Six-Day War in 1967, Taybeh has been under Israeli occupation. In September 2005, hundreds of Muslim men from Deir Jarir torched homes in Taybeh in response to an affair between a 30-year-old Muslim woman from Deir Jarir said to have been romantically involved with a Christian man from Taybeh. Despite the incident, the neighboring towns continue to have healthy relations; residents say "the people of Taybeh and the people of Deir Jarir are one family".
5. In 2008, Taybeh had a low birthrate and residents feared that the population would entirely disappear.[56] According to the mayor, the population in 2010 was 2,300, with 12,000 former residents and their descendants living in the U.S., Chile, and Guatemala.[47]
6. In the 1922 census of Palestine, conducted by the British Mandate authorities, the village, named Dair Ijreer, had a population of 739, all Muslim.
7. In the 1945 statistics, the population of Deir Jarir was 1,080, all Muslims
8. The Jordanian census of 1961 found 1,474 inhabitants in Deir Jarir.
9. The population of Deir Jerir in the 1967 census conducted by the Israeli authorities was 1,275, 18 of whom originated from the Israeli territory.

Therefore, I conclude, Taybeh is the last remaining town in the West Bank inhabited mostly by Christians and that not for much longer.

[af_vet_1981]

The town is in the West Bank, inhabited by Christians
and Moslems, who are overtaking the number of Christians. It has happened, and is happening, to all the towns that were once majority Christian. Both Bethlehem and Nazareth, which were once overwhelmingly Christian, now have Muslim majorities.

[Zathras]

Most of the West Bank has never been safe.
Jericho is the only exception. Usually very safe

[Jeff Chandler]

inhabited by Christian’s

Christian's what?

[AppyPappy]

Israelis vs Palestinians. Imagine my shock

[wardaddy]

This is free republic

Two points

Nobody reads past headlines

And they do that expecting to reinforce preexisting opinions

If it doesn’t then the article is a lie or they deny it or talk about something tangential

Free republic is a great place to find right of center voting

And a few friends

But if you want intellectual honesty and empiricism stick with Bacon and Locke

[jjotto]

Taybeh is in ‘Area B’ which means self-rule for residents, and means the Israeli government doesn’t really want it but that it is also not forbidden for Israelis the way ‘Area A’ is. Yeah, that’s weird.

Corrupt Turkish rule for hundreds of years messed up ownership of land, the Brits weren’t around long enough to establish a clearcut system, and the Jordanians didn’t care. Israel acquired the mess in ‘67 and tries to accommodate not just internal politics, but everyone, even in America, Europe and not remotely involved Muslim states.