(Catholic World News) — Jewish settlers in the West Bank attacked the Palestinian Christian village of Taybeh (Taibeh) and set fires near the cemetery and a fifth-century church. The priests of the village’s three churches—Latin-rite Catholic, Melkite Catholic, and Greek Orthodox—appealed to the international community for an “immediate and transparent investigation.”
The arson attacks “follow a series of violent acts against the town’s Christian residents, which have been escalating in recent weeks,” reported Roberto Cetera, the Vatican newspaper’s correspondent in the Holy Land. “The settlers have also damaged olive groves—Taibeh’s primary source of income—and are preventing farmers from accessing and working their land.”
Cetera added:
Their troubles began in 1977 when the Israeli government confiscated dozens of hectares of nearby land and illegally established a settlement called Rimonim. Large agricultural areas were taken from Taibeh’s farmers to build roads connecting various Jewish settlements. In the days leading up to yesterday’s attacks on Christian sites, settlers had already targeted the village outskirts, setting fire to a house and several cars.
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Armed Israeli settler accompanied by soldiers threatens Palestinian farmers near a-Tuwani, South Hebron Hills. Image credit: Basel al-’Adrah (BT’selem volunteer), CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
