Church leaders from the town of Taybeh in the West Bank (also known as Judea and Samaria) have appealed for help from Christians around the world follwing fires being set near their 5th century church and an ancient Christian cemetery being badly vandalised.
“In a statement [on] Tuesday, 8 July, the priests of the churches of Taybeh – Latins [Roman Catholics], Greek Catholics, and Greek Orthodox – made a clear appeal to the world, expressing deep concern about the increasing and documented attacks by illegal Israeli settlers on the town’s land, holy sites, and properties – amidst official silence that exacerbates the sense of danger and lack of protection,” Independent Catholic News (ICN) Reports.
“On Monday, July 7, 2025, … settlers deliberately set fires near the town’s cemetery and the ancient Church of the Greens, which dates back to the 5th century AD and is one of the oldest churches in Palestine.”
According to the statement by Father Dawood Khoury, Father Jacques-Noble Abed, and Father Bishara Fawaz, swift action by residents and firefihters out the fires out.
Thr priests say that “settlers continue to graze their livestock on the town’s agricultural lands, including private fields near homes, without facing any legal or security deterrent. This activity not only constitutes provocation but also leads to direct damage to olive trees, which are a primary source of livelihood for families, and prevents farmers from accessing and working on their lands freely.”
Settlements near the town are expanding, forimg a local example part of the competition for land between Jewsand Arab residents in the West Bank.
Taybeh, 15 kilometres northeast of Jerusalem is today the last Palestinian town with an absolute Christian majority in the West Bank according to the ICN report. In the Bible it is called Ophrah, a significant place in Gideon’s story and as Ephraim in John 11:54 “Therefore Jesus no longer moved about publicly among the people of Judea. Instead he withdrew to a region near the wilderness, to a village called Ephraim, where he stayed with his disciples.”
The priests of Taybeh plead: “The displacement of farmers from their land, the threat to their churches, and the siege of their town is a stab to the heart of this nation. Yet, our hope remains firm: that right and justice will ultimately prevail.”