Israeli army surrounds last Christian town in West Bank

Jo Siedlecka,

https://www.indcatholicnews.com/news/55632

View over the city of Taybeh in the West Bank

The Israeli army (IDF) has declared the Christian town of Taybeh – the last entirely Christian community in the occupied West Bank – a ‘closed military zone’ – prohibiting Israelis, foreign nationals, and journalists from entering. The army says this is to protect Taybeh from the illegal settlers that have been attacking the town for months.

Taybeh Mayor Suleiman Khoury said that restricting foreign visitors will have a serious economic impact because Taybeh is a popular religious and tourist destination with hotels, restaurants and other businesses relying heavily on visitors.

But the ban also means international activists, human rights observers, and journalists will no longer be able to enter the village to document or respond to the daily attacks by Israeli settlers. Many observers have noted that the IDF has tended to stand by and watch while ‘settlers’ have rampaged through Christian land and homes in Taybeh.

Ihab Hassan, a Palestinian Christian human rights advocate wrote: “This is a deeply alarming new measure and another step by the Israeli government and army toward the ethnic cleansing of the last entirely Christian village in the West Bank. They want to do it in silence – without witnesses, without journalists, and without the world noticing.

“Instead of arresting the settler terrorists responsible for these attacks, the authorities are banning the journalists and activists who document them from entering the village.

“If this continues, the survival of the last entirely Christian Palestinian village in the West Bank is at serious risk.”

Father Bashar Fawadleh, parish priest of Christ the Redeemer Church in Taybeh, said in a statement: “From the perspective of the church, we welcome any serious measure whose real purpose is to protect our people, their homes, their lands and their freedom to live in security and dignity.

“The declaration of Taybeh as a closed military zone for non-resident Israelis may be a positive step if it is genuinely and consistently enforced to prevent settlers from entering our lands and carrying out further attacks. What matters to us, however, is not the announcement itself, but what happens on the ground in the coming days and weeks.

“For months, our community has experienced repeated incursions into private and agricultural lands, intimidation of families and workers, fires, armed presence, the entry of settlers and their livestock onto private property and attempts to establish a permanent presence around the village. These incidents have created fear and are threatening the normal life and future of our Christian community.

“As a Church, we therefore say clearly: protection must mean protection. The responsibility cannot be placed on the victims by restricting their lives, access to their lands or freedom of movement. The restrictions must be directed against those who enter illegally, threaten residents, damage property or attempt to take control of land.

“We will judge this decision by its results: Are the attacks stopped? Can our farmers safely reach their land? Can families live in their homes without fear? Are attempts to establish new settler outposts around Taybeh prevented?

“Taybeh does not ask for privileges. We ask for the basic right to remain peacefully on our land and to preserve a Christian presence that has existed here for centuries.

“If this decision provides real and lasting protection, we will welcome it. But it must be implemented seriously and accompanied by accountability for those responsible for the attacks. Temporary measures are not enough. What Taybeh needs is lasting security, justice and the protection of its people and land.

“At this stage, we still do not have clear information about the details of how this decision will be implemented, how it will translate into practice on the ground, which areas will actually be covered by the measures, or how they will be enforced and monitored.

“For this reason, we cannot judge the decision solely by its announcement. We will assess it by the way it is implemented and by its actual impact on the lives, security, and freedom of movement of the people.”

In an interview with Vatican News, Fr Fawadleh appealed for prayers from the global church.

He said: “Do not forget Taybeh. I invite every Catholic diocese worldwide to speak out about the situation here, to talk about these Christian brothers and sisters who are living in terror. The birthplace of the Christian community must not vanish into silence. Together, we can preserve this living testament of faith.”

“Through your platform, I would like to appeal directly to Pope Leo XIV to intervene for this last Christian village in the West Bank, so that these settler attacks cease and the occupation of our land stops. We simply want to live in peace, with justice and dignity.

“It is a vital, foundational symbol for everyone, especially as we prepare for the 2033 Jubilee, marking two millennia since Jesus Christ walked this earth. Taybeh stands on the front lines of preserving Christianity here in the Holy Land. Jesus chose to seek refuge in Taybeh before his passion, death, and resurrection. We must remain a living testament to Christianity and its enduring presence in the Holy Land. The world must stand with Taybeh.”

LINKS

Two charities supporting the Christian community in Taybeh are:

Aid to the Church in Need: https://acnuk.org

Friends of the Holy Land: www.friendsoftheholyland.org.uk/

How Long Must This Go On?

A Journey from Palestine to Jordan: When Simple Travel Becomes an Ordeal

By Fr. Firas Abedrabbo
11 August 2026
How Long Must This Go On? A Journey from Palestine to Jordan: When Simple Travel Becomes an Ordeal By Fr. Firas Abedrabbo 11 August 2026

It was supposed to be an ordinary journey: leaving Ramallah in the morning, crossing the bridge into Jordan, attend the ceremony of religious vows for three dear sisters, and later returning with my mother. Geographically, it is not a long distance, and under normal circumstances, such a journey should not require so much planning, time, money, and stress. But in Palestine, distances are not measured in kilometres alone.

 
The complications began even before reaching the bridge. Leaving the Ramallah area took longer because one of the checkpoints along the way was closed. This is nothing exceptional in our daily lives. You may leave home knowing where you are going, but you do not know which road will still be open when you reach it, or how long it will actually take you to get there.
The situation becomes even more complicated when other roads are closed, as is happening in the Taybeh area. The closure of a single road does not affect only the residents of one village. It alters traffic throughout an entire area, increases pressure on alternative routes, and turns short distances into longer and more exhausting journeys. And so, before the actual journey has even begun, you have already gone through another journey simply to reach the crossing point.
 
When I finally reached the bridge, the number of travellers was overwhelming. I found myself with two choices: wait amid the crowds, with all the exhaustion and uncertainty that this entails, or use the VIP service to make the crossing easier. I chose the second option, not because I was looking for luxury, but because the crowds were more than I could manage and because I needed to travel and return with my mother.
 
At first, I thought the service would cost around $100. Then I discovered that I was mistaken: the actual cost was closer to $130. On top of that, there are approximately $70 in fees paid to the Israeli side upon departure. We are therefore already at around $200, and that is before even reaching Jordan, where additional fees still have to be paid.
 
And the expenses do not end with official fees. There are taxis, high transportation costs, and what travellers sometimes experience as exploitation by certain drivers who take advantage of their need and the lack of alternatives. When you urgently need to reach the bridge, leave it, or move from one point to another, you are not always in a position to compare prices or calmly search for a better option. You simply need to continue your journey, and that necessity itself can become an opportunity for prices to be inflated.
 
In the end, I found myself paying around 560 shekels instead of the roughly 250 shekels I had expected for part of this journey. The irony is that the total amount one can end up paying simply to travel from Palestine to Jordan can sometimes equal the price of a plane ticket to certain European destinations. We are talking about crossing a few dozen kilometres, not travelling between countries and continents.
 
Of course, I could have chosen not to use the VIP service. But that is precisely the point: sometimes all the options available to you are bad ones. Either you pay an excessive amount, or you face hours of crowds, waiting, and exhaustion, without knowing exactly when your journey will end.
 
The problem is not one incident, one checkpoint, or even one side. It is the daily accumulation of obstacles. An Israeli checkpoint may be closed, a road may be blocked, the bridge may be overcrowded, procedures and fees await you on both sides of the border, transportation costs are high, and some taxi drivers take advantage of the situation. At every stage, another obstacle appears, Israeli or Arab, official or unofficial.
 
This is sometimes difficult to explain to someone who lives in a place where they can simply get into their car and drive one or two hundred kilometres without having to think about anything beyond ordinary traffic. Here, even visiting a neighbouring country, or simply going to bring your mother home, can become an entire operation requiring calculations of time, money, checkpoints, crowds, open and closed roads, fees, and taxi fares.
And in moments of anger, you feel that everything has become difficult: because of Israelis and because of Arabs, because of occupation and because of disorder, because of checkpoints and because of the bridge, because of fees and because of exploitation. Everyone adds something to the burden, and in the end there is one ordinary human being who pays the price, financially and psychologically.
 
We are not asking for a privilege. We simply want something that seems perfectly ordinary in most parts of the world: to be able to go to work, visit our families, travel to a neighbouring country, and return home without every journey becoming yet another test of patience and endurance.
 
Today, I paid more than I wanted to pay, waited longer than I expected, and travelled a route far more complicated than it should have been. There is nothing I can change about that now. I will continue my journey, bring my mother home, and try to rest.
 
But the painful paradox remains: in this very small part of the world, a distance may be very short on a map, yet become extraordinarily long, complicated, and expensive in a person’s life.

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