Taybeh Ramallah. 1300 Christians still live here: cf. John 11:54 (Eprhaim)
CNA 7/1/25 “Father Bashar Fawadleh, parish priest of the Church of Christ the Redeemer in Taybeh, told ACI MENA:
“The town, which the Gospel of John (11:54) refers to as ‘Ephraim’ — the place Jesus withdrew to before his passion — is no longer safe for its people today… We do not live in peace but in daily fear and siege.”
He added: “Since last October, more than 10 families have left Taybeh due to fear from ongoing violence and harassment.”
Fawadleh also described further Israeli-imposed restrictions: “Alongside these attacks, Israeli authorities have installed iron gates at the town’s entrances, severely disrupting residents’ access to work and essential services. These limitations, combined with mounting agricultural restrictions, have worsened unemployment and deepened the economic crisis, leading many to consider emigration.”
He added: “These days, settlers are grazing their cows on a hill planted with olive and barley fields right next to people’s homes. Locals see this as part of a systematic effort to strangle them economically and push them out.”
On Wednesday, settlers attacked and killed three people in Kaffr Malik, another town near Ramallah, in the West Bank.
According to the BBC, Israel has built about 160 settlements since it began to occupy the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Although the Israeli government disagrees, the vast majority of the international community considers the settlements illegal under international law.
And the even scarier part is that what Fawadleh described isn’t just some emotional or symbolic situation. This is real, it’s physical and it’s playing out in real time. Taybeh is being chipped away piece by piece, field by field.
Right outside of town, settlers have set up yet another illegal outpost, and this one is on land they stole from a Christian family. But they’re not stopping at land grabs. They’re unleashing full-blown attacks on farms, crops, and equipment. This line of attack is a slow, very direct push to gut the town’s economy and make daily life utterly impossible. The Catholic News Agency piece goes on:
In a disturbing and increasingly frequent pattern, the Palestinian town of Taybeh, located east of Ramallah and known as the last remaining town in the West Bank inhabited entirely by Christians, faces ongoing attacks by Israeli settlers targeting residents, their property, and farmlands.
According to ACI MENA, CNA’s Arabic-language news partner, in recent weeks settlers have established a new outpost on the eastern edge of Taybeh atop the ruins of a farmhouse whose owners were displaced roughly a year ago.
The outpost was erected in a vital agricultural zone, spanning around 17,000 dunums (roughly 4,200 acres), which serves as a key economic lifeline for the town. The area hosts thousands of olive trees, poultry and sheep farms, and wide fields used for seasonal crops. It forms the bulk of Taybeh’s total land area of about 24,000 dunums (about 5,900 acres).
Attacks and infringements are not new. In 2019 and 2020, settlers set up similar illegal outposts around the town, often accompanied by arson attacks on crops, theft of equipment, and deliberately releasing cattle into the fields to destroy harvests.
Catholic Critique 