West Bank's Taibe Faces Relentless Violence by Israeli Occupiers
Located east of Ramallah, the town of roughly 1,500 Christian residents was once synonymous with calm and safety — a place where, according to local tradition, Jesus himself once sought refuge. That reputation is now rapidly eroding.
Settlers have seized agricultural land, unleashed livestock onto fields historically cultivated with wheat, almonds and grapes, and blocked Palestinian landowners from accessing their own property. Residents describe the situation as a deliberate, coordinated campaign of displacement.
Khaldoun Hanna, acting mayor of Taibe, pulled no punches in his assessment of the crisis.
"Israeli attacks do not distinguish between Muslim and Christian. Everyone is targeted, and there is a green light from the far-right for occupiers to do whatever they want," Hanna said.
He added: "We have about 5,000 dunams that we have been unable to access for four years, in addition to about 6,000 dunams of open agricultural land that occupiers now exploit to graze their cattle."
Hanna further described the breadth of settler encroachment beyond farmland alone.
"Occupiers are stealing Palestinian property and attacking homes and vehicles," he said, adding: "Even economic facilities such as factories and companies west of the town have been seized by occupiers, who have prevented their owners from accessing them."
On the ultimate goal of these attacks, Hanna was unequivocal: "They want to empty the land of its people, but this will not happen."
"We will either live here with dignity or die on our land, and we will not leave," he added.
Suleiman Khoury, a Christian resident and former mayor, recounted a relentless pattern of losses since the Gaza war erupted.
"Since Oct. 7, 2023, we have been prevented from harvesting olives, and we were beaten and had our equipment stolen by occupiers," Khoury said, adding: "Even my sons' vehicle was stolen, and I have land planted with almond trees that I worked on for years, but occupiers uprooted the trees and moved them to an outpost."
The attacks have not let up. "Days ago, they attacked my land again, broke the gates and grazed their sheep in the vineyard. Just a short while ago, they were there," he said.
Yet Khoury remains steadfast. "The land is precious to us. We worked on it and put in effort. If occupiers take it, we will have nothing left," he said.
The violence has extended to sacred ground. Settlers recently set fire to sections of the historic Church of St. George, while homes, vehicles and public spaces have been defaced with racist graffiti.
The Higher Presidential Committee for Church Affairs in Palestine sounded the alarm in early February, warning that settler aggression endangers the continued Christian presence in the territory and calling for urgent protection of Palestinian civilians. In an appeal to churches across the globe, the committee cautioned that the attacks "threaten their historic presence in their land."
The broader picture is equally alarming. Approximately 750,000 Israeli settlers reside across hundreds of settlements in the occupied West Bank, including around 250,000 in East Jerusalem. Since fighting in Gaza began on Oct. 8, 2023, Israeli forces and settlers have dramatically escalated operations throughout the West Bank — conducting arrests, killings, property destruction, home demolitions and forced displacement.
According to official Palestinian figures, those operations have killed at least 1,132 Palestinians, wounded approximately 11,700 others, and resulted in the detention of roughly 22,000 people.
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