BREAKING Priests Issue Joint Statement of Emergency to International Leaders after Christian Town in Taybeh, West Bank, is Attacked by Israel
Vatican News reported that Israel attacked Christians in the biblical town of Ephraim, with its modern name of al-Taybeh, a Palestinian village in the West Bank, a few kilometers northeast of Jerusalem. The Christian community has been present here for two thousand years, and the village is still entirely inhabited by Christian Arabs.
In a joint statement written “on behalf of the people of our city and our parishioners,” the three priests describe an emergency situation characterized by “a series of serious and repeated attacks against our city, threatening its security and stability and affecting the dignity of its inhabitants and its holy sites.”
“Had the residents not been vigilant and the intervention of the firefighters,” the text states, “a major catastrophe would have occurred. In a scene marked by daily provocations, the settlers continue to graze their cows on Taybeh’s farmland, amidst fields belonging to families in the city, and even near their homes, without any intervention or deterrence from the relevant authorities.” And “these attacks,” the priests say, “are not limited to provocations; they also directly damage the olive trees, which are the main source of income for citezens, and prevent farmers from accessing and cultivating their land.”
The eastern part of the village of Taybeh, which covers more than half of the town’s territory and where most agricultural activities take place, “has become an open target for the illegal settlers, who are quietly expanding under the protection of the army and serving as a springboard for further attacks on the land and people.”
In the message, the priests also appeal to local and international bodies, “especially diplomats and church representatives from around the world,” calling for “an immediate and transparent investigation into the arson attacks and the ongoing attacks on property, farmland, and holy sites, as well as for pressure on the occupying authorities to stop the settlers’ practices and prevent them from entering the city’s farmland or grazing their livestock there.”
CMEP Condemns the Israeli Settler Attack Against the Palestinian Christian Village of Taybeh
July 9, 2025, Washington D.C.- Churches for Middle East Peace (CMEP) condemns the most recent attack by Israeli settlers on the Palestinian Christian village of Taybeh, where on July 7, 2025, settlers deliberately set fire near the town cemetery and the historic Church of Saint George, dating back to the 5th century. This violent act, thwarted only by the intervention of local residents and firefighters, is part of what local Christian clergy describe as “a series of dangerous, systematic attacks” against the village’s land, holy sites, and people. Taybeh, historically known as Ephraim, is the last entirely Christian town in the West Bank, and these assaults represent not only a grave threat to its security but a direct effort to undermine the Christian presence in the Holy Land.
This incident is tragically not an isolated one. Christian communities throughout the West Bank and Jerusalem have faced increasing threats from extremist settlers and discriminatory Israeli policies. From repeated desecrations of Christian property to attempts at land confiscation, such as the ongoing expansion of the so-called “National Park” in East Jerusalem aimed at encircling Christian and Muslim neighborhoods, Palestinian Christians are being pushed toward exile. These targeted actions contribute to the alarming exodus of Christians from the very land where Christianity was born.
“The settler violence and destruction in Taybeh are part of a much broader and deeply troubling pattern of attacks that are forcing Christians from their homeland. We cannot remain silent while churches are threatened, land is stolen, and families are driven from their communities. The global Christian community must respond with urgency and solidarity.”
