SAEDNEWS: As Israel’s brutal campaign in Gaza escalates, church leaders warn that coordinated settler attacks are driving Palestinians from their lands and erasing Christian heritage in the West Bank.
The humanitarian crisis in the occupied West Bank is deepening amid the ongoing Israeli assault on Gaza.
Settler mobs, emboldened by regime forces’ brutality, have intensified violence and intimidation against Palestinian communities.
Last week, church leaders in Taybeh, the last Christian-majority town in the West Bank, condemned repeated attacks on local farmland and holy sites, including St George’s, a fifth-century church central to the town’s identity.
“These assaults threaten the security, dignity and historical roots of our people,” church representatives said.
Residents increasingly fear that this orchestrated campaign is designed to expel them from their homes and destroy their presence on their ancestral land.
Such violence is part of a broader Israeli strategy to make Palestinian life unlivable across the occupied territory.
Successive Israeli administrations have tolerated or encouraged these crimes, using settler militias as proxies to seize Palestinian property under the cover of military occupation.
The current government openly enables the attacks.
Israeli forces routinely side with settlers, removing Palestinian residents rather than stopping the aggressors.
Complaints are rarely accepted, investigations are scarce, and when charges are filed, they usually result in penalties.
This deliberate impunity has fostered an environment where settlers act as extensions of Israeli regime’s hands.
“Settler violence is state violence by any other name,” the bishops said in a statement.
They urged the British government to end its complacency and publish its response to the international court of justice’s advisory opinion declaring Israel’s occupation unlawful.
The bishops called on the UK to impose sanctions on individuals, illegal outposts and organizations perpetrating violence against Palestinians.
They also demanded that London consider suspending its trade agreement with Israel as a means of accountability.
“The UK has both a legal and moral duty to act decisively against these crimes, which endanger regional stability and the survival of Christian communities in the Holy Land,” the statement concluded.
