Israeli settler violence has surged across the West Bank, targeting both local Christian and Bedouin communities.
Near Taybeh – the last fully Christian village in the West Bank – residents and the neighboring Bedouin Kaabnah family face daily harassment, property destruction, and road closures by extremist settlers.
The military declared Taybeh a closed military zone to curb unrest, yet residents say enforcement remains lacking. Local parish priest Father Bashar Fawadleh warned that the entire community is under threat, while farmers fear losing upcoming olive harvests.
“Unfortunately, we are all targeted by the fanatic and radical settlers,” he told OSV News. “We need a lot of clarification about the military zone. Until now, we don’t know exactly what that means.”
During his Sunday Angelus on 16 August, Pope Leo XIV condemned the repeated violence against Palestinians, calling for an urgent return to two-state peace efforts.
The United Nations reports over 1,000 settler attacks in the West Bank this year alone. Amid all of this, Father Fawadleh said, locals continue to put their lives in the hands of God, asking for international political and diplomatic support to put an end to all the extremist settler attacks in the West Bank.
