Settlers torch cars and deface homes in West Bank’s last all-Christian village hours after Christmas events launch; priest says “our hope does not fade”
Newsroom (08/12/2025 Gaudium Press ) In the early hours of 5 December, just hours after the Latin parish of Taybeh joyously inaugurated its “Christmas Nights” celebrations, Israeli settlers set fire to two cars and sprayed a threatening message on a private home in the only entirely Christian village remaining in the West Bank.
No one was injured in the overnight attack, but the charred vehicles and graffiti—described by parish priest Father Bashar Fawadleh as bearing “the same messages used across the West Bank”—left residents shaken and underscored the precarious existence of the ancient community.
Father Fawadleh visited the affected family at dawn. “They thanked me and said they value the Church’s presence,” he recounted. “But we need stronger support to safeguard our people and our land. Taybeh is the last Christian village in the area, and we need global cooperation to help it survive.”
The assault followed a festive evening on 4 December that had drawn diplomats from eight countries with historic ties to the Holy Land, along with visitors from Ramallah, Jerusalem, and surrounding towns. The abrupt shift from celebration to violence has become a grimly familiar pattern for Taybeh’s roughly 1,300 Latin, Greek Orthodox, and Melkite Catholic residents.
This year alone, the village has endured six separate settler attacks. Yet Father Fawadleh remains resolute. “We remain here. We do not feel safe, but we continue with our daily life,” he said. “We must continue celebrating Christmas.”
Each incident, he acknowledged, heightens anxiety and prompts some families to weigh emigration. International attention and sustained diplomatic engagement, the priest stressed, are essential to bolster vulnerable Christian communities east of Ramallah.
Amid the fear, faith endures. “Our hope does not fade,” Father Fawadleh declared. “It is the hope of the third day, of the empty tomb—the hope of the Resurrection.”
The incident in Taybeh fits into a broader surge of settler violence documented across the occupied West Bank. According to a recent report by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), 1,680 settler attacks have been recorded since January in more than 270 Palestinian communities—an average of five incidents per day. The olive harvest has been particularly hard hit, with 178 attacks registered in October and November alone across 88 localities.
As Christmas approaches, Taybeh’s Christians say they will keep their lights on and their doors open, holding fast to a hope they describe as older and stronger than the threats arrayed against them.
- Raju Hasmukh with files from Vatican News
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