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Church Leaders Condemn Attacks on Palestinian Village
· Confirmed
In Short: The Patriarchs and Heads of Churches in Jerusalem condemned the attack on Taybeh, calling it a 'heinous attack' and warning that it forms part of a wider pattern of settler violence against Palestinian villages during the olive harvest.
The Patriarchs and Heads of Churches in Jerusalem issued a statement following attacks in and around Taybeh on October 16 and 17, when local residents were gathering olives during the annual harvest.
The statement condemned the 'heinous attack' carried out by masked settlers, urging the competent authorities to bring those responsible to justice.
Church leaders also warned that violence would continue unless perpetrators were held accountable, and called on the international community to intensify efforts to protect Palestinian communities in Taybeh and throughout the West Bank.
The attacks included a severe beating of Washington Post journalist Heidi Levine on October 16, and an ambush of a convoy of European diplomats from Belgium, Poland, and France, along with Palestinian civilians, on October 17.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) condemned the 'severe act of violence' and said they were investigating.
Belgian Foreign Minister Maxime Prevot said Israeli settlers targeted Belgium’s consul general, French and Polish diplomats, and Catholic representatives.
The church leaders stated that the religious ruling recently published, allowing Jews to take the olives of Palestinians, was unfounded, very worrying, and dangerous.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio expressed concern over recent attacks by Israeli settlers against Palestinians, and the United States ambassador to Israel condemned the violence as an 'act of terror' while visiting Palestinian American residents in the village of Turmus Aya.
The Patriarchs and Heads of Churches in Jerusalem also welcomed comments from Israeli President Isaac Herzog condemning the attacks, but warned that violence would continue unless perpetrators were held accountable.
The church leaders urged the competent authorities to bring those responsible for the attack to justice and called on the international community to strengthen efforts to protect Palestinian communities in Taybeh and throughout the West Bank.
Background
The Patriarchs and Heads of Churches in Jerusalem condemned the attack on Taybeh, calling it a 'heinous attack' and warning that it forms part of a wider pattern of settler violence against Palestinian villages during the olive harvest.
The Patriarchs and Heads of Churches in Jerusalem condemned the attack on Taybeh, calling it a 'heinous attack' and warning that it forms part of a wider pattern of settler violence against Palestinian villages during the olive harvest.
What's confirmed
- The Patriarchs and Heads of the Churches in Jerusalem (PHCJ) issued the statement following attacks in and around Taybeh on 16th and 17th October, when local residents were gathering olives during the annual harvest.
- The previous day, October 16, Washington Post journalist Heidi Levine was severely beaten by masked Israeli settlers as she was covering the olive harvest in the West Bank village of Abu Falah.
- The patriarchs and heads of Churches in Jerusalem have issued a statement firmly condemning the “heinous attack” carried out on Saturday, October 17, by “masked settlers” in the Christian village of Taybeh.
- In a statement released Oct. 20 by the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, the patriarchs and heads of the Churches in Jerusalem said the "wild attack" in Taybeh, one of the last remaining Christian villages in the West Bank, was "not an isolated incident."
- The Patriarchs and Heads of Churches in Jerusalem have condemned an attack on the Christian village of Taybeh in the West Bank, calling for those responsible to be brought to justice In a joint statement issued on Monday, October 19, the Patriarchs and Heads of Churches in Jerusalem condemned an attack on the Palestinian Christian village of Taybeh on Saturday, October 17, during which masked settlers targeted local residents harvesting olives and foreign visitors, including European diplomats and officials who were visiting the area in solidarity with the community.
- “We very much appreciate that several rabbis and Jewish voices have publicly rejected it.” On 19th October Israeli authorities arrested several suspects in a pre-dawn operation on suspicion of involvement in acts of violence, violating a closed military zone order and illegal construction who were taken into custody.
What's still developing
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- The recent wave of Israeli settler attacks — burning fields, threatening holy sites, and attacking private property against the Palestinian Christian village of Al-Taybeh — should come as no surprise.
- With a week to go before a closely fought election, it seems Netanyahu is treading lightly on the settler attacks in order to avoid alienating political allies whose support he will need after the ballots are counted.
- Meanwhile, Israeli police have arrested 10 suspects in a wave of settler violence that targeted a U.S. journalist and European diplomats in the occupied West Bank, and Iran-backed Houthi rebels announced attacks in Yemen and across Saudi Arabia.
- The overwhelming majority of Israelis living beyond the Green Line are not storming Palestinian villages or taking over homes.
- Al Jazeera’s Nida Ibrahim, reporting from Turmus Aya in the occupied West Bank, said that Huckabee not only met local officials, “but also Palestinian Americans who live in the village of Turmus Aya and have been seeing firsthand the effects of settler pogroms and violence, part of the whole escalation by settlers in the occupied West Bank”.
- Mike Huckabee on Saturday met Palestinian American residents who described the impact of the violence on their lives and properties The United States ambassador to Israel condemned Israeli settler violence in the occupied West Bank again on Saturday, calling the behaviour an “act of terror” as he visited Palestinian American residents shaken by months of attacks.
- Heidi Levine sustained four fractured vertebrae, two broken ribs and four puncture wounds when she was knocked to the ground and repeatedly beaten by a crowd of masked settlers while she and other journalists were covering the olive harvest in the Palestinian village of Abu Falah, north of Ramallah.
- Herzog said in a statement: “I strongly condemn this outrageous and shocking violence”, referring to Levine’s attack and to “other grave incidents of violence, such as what took place today in Taybeh”.
- Trump issued what he called his “Complete and Total Endorsement” of Netanyahu on Sunday, describing him as a “Great Warrior Prime Minister” and praising his partnership with the United States against Iran.
- "Attacking a female photographer is a despicable act of terror carried out by masked cowards," Huckabee wrote on X, taking a far stronger tone than an earlier statement from Washington.