A Palestinian Christian woman was seriously injured in a settler attack near Birzeit, highlighting a growing wave of violence in the occupied West Bank.
Newsroom (26/01/2026 Gaudium Press ) A quiet January afternoon in the hills north of Ramallah turned into a scene of terror for a Palestinian Christian family when Israeli settlers attacked their home, leaving 62-year-old Najat Jadallah Emeid critically injured. The assault on the outskirts of Birzeit, near the Atara military barrier, was the latest in a relentless wave of settler violence that has escalated sharply over the past year.
According to her son, Nafiz Emeid, settlers first drove their livestock onto the family’s land, allowing the animals to damage the crops. When confronted, the intruders began hurling stones at the house, shattering windows and striking Najat in the head. She was rushed to the hospital, where doctors diagnosed her with a skull fracture and admitted her to intensive care. Her sons, Nafiz and Eid Emeid, also sustained injuries—Eid with a broken hand—after attempting to repel the attackers.
“We didn’t attack the settlers,” Nafiz said in a statement to local media. “We defended our home and our land from their barbaric assault.”
But instead of stopping the attack, Israeli security forces arrested the victims. Soldiers raided the family home, detaining Eid, Nafiz, and their cousins Saeb and Basem, while those responsible for the assault remained protected. Only Nafiz was released later the same day.
A Pattern of Impunity
For Najat’s daughter Nariman Koura, this violence is nothing new. She described a pattern of harassment intended to drive the Christian family from their land. “The settlers regularly bring their sheep to graze here to provoke us,” she said. “They want us to leave, but we will not. No matter what they do, this is our home.”
Following the incident, extremists took to social media to incite further violence. Posts called for the demolition of the family’s home and attacks on Birzeit and the nearby Atara village, conspicuously omitting any mention of the elderly woman’s injury.
Wadie Abunassar, coordinator of the Holy Land Christian Forum, condemned the Israeli army’s handling of the case. “The arrest of the victims leaves us speechless,” he said, calling it another example of impunity for settler violence against vulnerable Palestinian communities.
Rising Tide of Attacks in 2025
The Birzeit attack adds to a record surge of settler violence in the occupied West Bank. According to the Presidential Higher Committee for Ecclesiastical Affairs, at least 110 attacks on Christians were recorded in the first half of 2025. These have included desecration of churches, vandalism, spitting, verbal abuse, and physical assaults. The town of Taybeh, once a symbol of coexistence, suffered repeated attacks that drew international outrage.
Between December 23, 2025, and January 5, 2026, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) documented 44 settler attacks, resulting in property destruction and 33 reported injuries, including children. Roughly 100 families were displaced during the same period, forced to abandon their homes amid escalating threats and intimidation.
Local human rights groups describe the violence as part of a broader strategy of forced displacement. “This is not sporadic,” said one activist. “It is systematic — part of an ethnic cleansing plan to transform Palestinian villages into settler territory.”
Expansion and Endorsement
Data from the Committee for Resistance to Settlement and the Wall show that by the end of 2024, the settler population in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, had reached 770,420, spread across 180 settlements and 256 outposts. Nearly 138 of those outposts are agricultural or pastoral, serving as footholds for expansion.
Despite their illegality under international law, these settlements enjoy increasing government support. Under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, far-right and pro-occupation factions have strengthened their political foothold, advocating policies that critics say enable further land seizures and violence.
The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) themselves reported a 27% increase in settler attacks during 2025, registering 867 incidents of “nationalist crime” compared with 682 the previous year. The number of “serious incidents” — including shootings, arson, and armed assaults — also rose sharply, from 83 in 2024 to 128 in 2025.
Officials within the IDF Central Command have privately expressed what they describe as a “sense of failure” to curb extremist violence. Yet critics argue that military complicity, rather than mere inefficiency, is the deeper issue, with troops often accused of shielding settlers instead of protecting Palestinian civilians.
A New Settlement in Beit Sahour
The violence has coincided with the government’s push to formalize illegal outposts. Just days before the Birzeit attack, settlers celebrated the official recognition of a new settlement outside Beit Sahour, near Bethlehem — a predominantly Christian town known as the biblical Shepherds’ Field. The settlement, named Yatziv (“stable” in Hebrew), began as an unauthorized outpost in late 2024 and was legalized last month under heavy security, with Israeli troops guarding the ceremony.
For Palestinians, the inauguration of Yatziv symbolizes the tightening grip of occupation and the growing boldness of settler movements emboldened by state approval. For Christian communities like the Emeid family, it encapsulates a darker truth: that faith and heritage are now battlegrounds in an escalating struggle for land, dignity, and survival.
- Raju Hasmukh with files from Asianews.it
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