Taybeh, West Bank, July 29, 2025
Jerusalem News Network
Jewish settlers attacked the Palestinian Christian village of Taybeh in the West Bank overnight Sunday into Monday, torching two vehicles and spray-painting threatening graffiti in another assault on the only fully Christian Palestinian town remaining in the occupied territory.
The predawn attack in the Ramallah-area village left several cars in flames and Hebrew graffiti daubed on walls. No arrests were immediately reported, continuing a pattern where such incidents occur “almost unchecked on a near-daily basis in the West Bank,” reports the Times of Israel.
Jeries Azar, a Taybeh resident and journalist for Palestine TV, said his house and car were targeted. “I looked outside and saw my car on fire, and they were throwing something at the vehicle and in the direction of the house,” Azar told AFP. The father expressed particular fear for his two-year-old son, recalling the 2015 Duma attack where settlers killed a Palestinian family in a firebombing.
Hebrew graffiti left on a wall read “Al-Mughayyir, you will regret,” referring to a nearby village also attacked by settlers earlier this year. Israeli police launched an investigation but apprehended no suspects.
Germany’s ambassador to Israel condemned the attack, writing: “These extremist settlers may claim that God gave them the land. But they are nothing but criminals abhorrent to any faith.”
This latest attack follows a July 7 incident when settlers set fire near Taybeh’s historic Church of St. George, prompting Patriarch Theophilos III of Jerusalem and Latin Patriarch Pierbattista Pizzaballa to visit in solidarity. The Church leaders said settlers had torched Christian homes and erected signs telling residents “there is no future for you here.”
The Catholic leader warned the West Bank was descending into lawlessness: “The only law is that of power, of those who have the force, not the law.”
Taybeh, home to about 1,300 mostly Christian Palestinians, represents part of approximately 50,000 Christian Palestinians remaining in Jerusalem and the West Bank. The targeting of Christians has drawn U.S. attention, with Ambassador Mike Huckabee visiting Taybeh earlier this month.
Christian leaders fear the violence threatens further emigration, calling the attacks “a direct and intentional threat” to the community and “the historic and religious heritage of our ancestors and holy sites.”
The Palestinian Authority’s data shows settlers committed 2,153 attacks in the first half of 2025, killing four Palestinians. Since October 2023, at least 1,008 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank by Israeli forces and settlers.
Israel has controlled the West Bank since 1967. The territory houses about three million Palestinians and 700,000 Israeli settlers. Last week, 71 Knesset members passed a nonbinding motion calling for West Bank annexation. The International Court of Justice declared Israel’s occupation illegal in July 2024.
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The Patriarch of Jerusalem and other Christian leaders in the Holy Land issued another statement condemning the violence in Taybeh and the unacceptable police response:
en.jerusalem-patriarchate.info
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