The Taybeh community has survived crusaders and the Ottoman and British empires, but the latest attacks leave its future in question

Taybeh, a small hilltop town in the heart of the West Bank is one of the oldest Christian communities in the world. After increasing attacks from Israeli settlers it now feels itself under siege and is fighting for its very existence.

The town’s ancient Greek name was Ephraim where, according to the gospels, Jesus hid with his disciples from the Jewish religious hierarchy, the Sanhedrin, before making his final fateful trip to Jerusalem.

A church was built here in the fifth century, and the entirely Christian community survived the crusaders, conquest by Salah ad-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub or Saladin, the Ottoman empire, the British empire, and three Arab-Israeli wars, but its inhabitants say its long-term future is in question.

There are four substantial Israeli settlements around Taybeh, and countless unofficial outposts have also sprung up on the steep hills overlooking the Jordan valley. They have been set up by messianic Jews who send their young people, the “hilltop youth”, to harass and intimidate local Palestinians in the surrounding countryside.

The relentless land grabs and intimidation is a pattern repeated up and down the West Bank in a campaign the UN has called ethnic cleansing, which has been driven by hardline members of the ruling coalition, the finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, and the national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir.

After driving out Bedouin nomads and their flocks, Fawadleh said the settlers began to drive their cows and sheep into the olive groves and fields which have been Taybeh’s lifeblood for millennia.

Over the past year, the pressure has been turned up further. In July last year, settlers set fire to the grounds of the fifth–century Byzantine church, St Peter’s. Since then, bands of hilltop youth have raided the town four times, setting fire to cars, slashing tires and smashing windows.

On 19 March, the parish said about 30 settlers took over a concrete factory and stone quarry on the edge of Taybeh, raised the Israeli flag and held prayers on the site, in what was seen locally as a statement of intent that the interlopers would start taking over parts of the town itself.

In February, the security cabinet approved measures allowing Israelis to buy property in the occupied West Bank, an important step towards annexation.

What sets Taybeh apart from other besieged West Bank towns is its identity as a completely Christian town with ancient roots. This brings it a modicum of protection, such as from the harvest visits by diplomats, but it also makes the community as a whole more vulnerable. Western countries generally have been more welcoming to Palestinian Christians than their Muslim neighbours, meaning it is easier for them to leave – which is what has been happening.

See also:

• The Fire in the West Bank Is Burning Hotter, Out of Sight (New York Times)
• Palestinians in occupied West Bank face growing violence from Israeli settlers (PBS)
• Blaming Settler Violence on Messianic Racism Misses the Real Story • The liberal camp is overlooking the deeper shift inside religious Zionism, as the hilltop youth move from the margins into the mainstream (Haaretz)
• Israeli leaders are condemning settler attacks. It’s a smokescreen • The recent wave of denunciations from ministers, army chiefs, and right-wing pundits aims to obscure the fact that settler violence is state policy. (+972 Magazine)