With the political leadership of the supposedly Christian West obsequiously lying at the feet of the Israelis despite their egregious crimes, the future of Christians in occupied Palestine looks bleak
CHRISTIANS in the ancient town of Taybeh in the Ramallah governorate of the occupied West Bank are staring at a bleak future as a result of constant attacks on their lives, livelihoods, and sanctities by Jewish squatters who operate with the full backing of the Israeli state.
With a history spanning thousands of years, Taybeh is one of a handful of remaining Christian-majority areas in Palestine. It boasts a 100 percent Christian demography. However, not unlike the Muslim-majority areas of the occupied West Bank, Taybeh’s residents grapple with constant harassment, threats, and attacks from Jewish occupiers, who continue to ratchet up their criminal acts with each passing day.
As Israel expands its rapid annexation drive in the West Bank, Taybeh has become increasingly surrounded by illegal Jewish settlements, the latest of which sprang up just last month. Right-wing extremists from the Hilltop Youth — a loose organisation of some of the most violent Jewish extremists terrorising the Palestinians — are active in Taybeh and nearby Bedouin communities, where they indulge in arson and theft and block the natives from accessing their farmland.
This is all in an attempt to empty Palestine of its Christian presence.
“Palestinian officials have repeatedly warned that Israel seeks to empty Palestinian lands of Christians in an attempt to separate them from the core of the national struggle and promote a false narrative to the world that the conflict in Palestine is religious rather than political,” Anadolu Agency reported.
However, Christian leaders of Taybeh continue to resist the Israeli designs on their community and homeland, and intend to stay put despite the challenges.
“We preserve the faith of this town, which has remained 100% Christian in the West Bank, and we believe we have a mission in this Holy Land, despite the increasing restrictions and attacks we face,” the Rev. Jack-Nobel Abed of the Greek Melkite Catholic Church in Taybeh told Anadolu.
He told the outlet that attacks on Christians are not “isolated incidents,” but represent “a policy of pressure aimed at weakening the Christian presence in Palestine.”
Abed said that the attacks by squatters and restrictions imposed by the Israeli state affect the daily lives of Taybeh’s Christian community, creating “a state of anxiety and fear among residents.” However, they remain committed to their mission.
“We do not speak from a place of fanaticism, but from a place of preserving our presence, identity and mission in this land,” Abed said. “We are facing a difficult reality, but it does not weaken our faith that remaining and standing firm is the basic message,” he added.
Abed said occupier attacks on monks and nuns in occupied East Jerusalem, along with continued harassment of the Christian presence, are “part of a broader picture of what is happening in Palestine.”
Impact on Livelihood
The residents of Taybeh, numbering around 1,500, with thousands of expatriates abroad, depend mainly on olive farming. However, due to the increasing violence in the West Bank in the wake of the genocide in the Gaza Strip, the livelihood of Taybeh’s residents has been threatened. During these attacks on Palestinians, the Israelis also steal farm animals, burn down crops, uproot olive trees, and block the natives from accessing their farms.
“Israeli occupiers have prevented residents from reaching about 5,000 dunams of farmland, and they have also prevented them from harvesting olives across wide areas, causing major economic losses,” Khaldoun Hanna, Acting Mayor of Taybeh, told Anadolu.
He added that the Israelis even attempted to burn down the fifth-century Church of St. George: “The most dangerous incident was an attempt to burn the Byzantine Church of St. George inside the town, but residents managed to control the fire before it spread.”
Hanna said that the relentless violence is aimed at driving away the Christians of the town. “There are daily pressures on residents and constant attempts at provocation to create friction, but residents try to avoid a direct confrontation despite the provocations,” he said.
Forced to Migrate
The constant Israeli pressure has resulted in families leaving Taybeh in search of safety and security. “In the past two years alone, at least 10 families have left because of the economic situation and ongoing pressure,” Hanna said.
The escalating violence on the livelihoods of Palestinians — Christians and Muslims alike — has led to unprecedented economic uncertainty as well as safety concerns in the absence of any protection by the Israeli state from the violence of extremist squatters. This has played a role in pushing the natives off their land.
“When a farmer is prevented from reaching his land, his main source of livelihood is cut off, and this affects social stability,” Hanna said. “The crisis is not only economic, but also psychological and social, because people feel their future is threatened,” he added.
The number of illegal Jewish squatters in the occupied West Bank continues to rise at a rapid pace. While the number of Israeli occupiers in the West Bank stood at around 110,000 at the time of the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993, their number has swelled to 770,000 now. This constant theft of Palestinian land has forced the Christian and Muslim natives into ever-shrinking Bantustans, under the constant threat of violence.
Emboldened by the lack of repercussions for their ongoing years-long genocide in the Gaza Strip and incessant violence and thievery in the West Bank, the Israelis are busy swallowing up huge swathes of Palestinian land. With the political leadership of the supposedly Christian West obsequiously lying at the feet of the Israelis despite their egregious crimes, the future of Christians in occupied Palestine looks bleak. — Palestine Will Be Free
