Father Bashar Fawadleh, parish priest in Taybeh, the West Bank’s only Christian village has warned that continued attacks by Israeli settlers is leading to an exodus from the town.
Taybeh is reported to have been the target of frequent attacks by Israeli settlers, who locals say have vandalised the village, attempted to burn down the church, torched cars and damaged olive groves by grazing their cattle and starting fires.
In August the IDF declared the village to be a “closed military zone” meaning that the town is off-limits to Israelis and foreigners. A spokesman for the IDF stated the move was made to “protect residents in the area" after "several violent attacks by Israelis in the region".
Speaking at an event in London, organised by the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem, Father Fawadleh said that 16 families and many individuals had left the village in the last three years, causing it to lose around 10 per cent of its population of 1,200.
“People will go from this land. One day it will be empty of Christians and Christianity will lose its roots," he said.
He added, “We don’t ask for any privilege for Christians. We ask for basic human rights. Our problems are the threats, that we are stuck in our homes and can’t get to our land, and migration.”
The priest added that the closed military zone enforced by the IDF was severely hindering the economic life of the village by inhibiting the movements of the population.
“I can’t spend seven hours a day just getting to and from my home," he said.
The priest said that the settlers were fanatics, echoing concerns raised the Patriarchs and Heads of the Churches in Jerusalem, who said that some Jewish leaders had even encouraged the attacks by claiming that Israeli Jews are the legitimate owners of the land and therefore permitted to take olives from Palestinian-owned groves in the West Bank.
Such views, the patriarch’s said, were "unfounded, very worrying and dangerous, and absolutely unacceptable".
