West Bank priest appeals for support as Christians are being driven out

Fr Fawadleh at press conference MMazur/CBCEW

Christians worldwide have been called on to support one of its oldest communities in the Holy Land to ensure its survival.

On a visit to London this week, Parish Priest Fr Bashar Fawadleh warned that the beleaguered Christians of the historic West Bank village of Taybeh can not carry the responsibility of saving its Christian heritage alone.

The Palestinian priest warned that sustained attacks on the land and its people mean that many have left and others are thinking of going, threatening the foundations of the faith's heritage.

"This is a responsibility not just for ourselves," said Fr Bashar, Parish Priest of the Church of Christ the Redeemer in Taybeh, "This is your responsibility too because one day, if this place will be empty, you will lose your roots".

He urged Christians everywhere to support the people of Taybeh through advocacy, donations and investment in business, housing and jobs.

"We are doing our best to support our people there through creating jobs and other initiatives through our institutions, to help them through the hardest times. And we have plans for a ceramics workshop, healthcare facilities and housing. We need help to make them happen".

Traditionally identified as the biblical town of Ephraim, where Jesus stayed before his final journey to Jerusalem, Taybeh is the last remaining fully Christian village in the West Bank. It is also home to the ruins of the fifth-century Church of St George, one of the oldest Christian sites in the Holy Land.

Today the village is surrounded by outposts manned by illegal Israeli settlers who have launched an increasingly violent campaign, described by Fr Bashar as a strategic pattern of displacement, property destruction and lethal attacks.

Residents live in constant fear of settler attacks with restricted access to olive groves, which are the lifeblood of the community, vehicles being burned and access to a cement factory and quarry being cut off, further threatening jobs.

In response to a sharp rise in attacks this year, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) created a closed military zone in Taybeh and its neighbouring village Rammun in July, stating that its aim was to curb increasing attacks by Israeli settlers. The order bars outsiders without links to the village from entering the area. But according to Fr Bashar, church leaders and human rights observers attacks have continued and the restrictions seem to be applied selectively, with settlers still able to come and go.

On the day the order was introduced the nearby quarry was ransacked. And just weeks ago an attack on a delegation of European diplomats visiting the area made global headlines when a French Mayor was kicked to the ground and assaulted by what he described as "enraged" settlers.

Fr Bashar was with the French, Polish and Belgian diplomats when they went to the aid of an elderly woman and a teenager who had been surrounded by settlers when they too came under attack..

"Usually, we ask the diplomatic missions to come and to be with us in this time (harvest), because when we have these diplomatic missions, we feel that we are safe. We feel that we are in security, and we can go and we can reach our land."

The attack made headlines, unlike the daily infringements, travel restrictions and intimidation that mean Palestine Christians in Taybeh can not go about their daily lives.

"The problem now is not with the economic. This is one of the problems. The biggest problem now is the security, the safety, the movement, the transportation. I cannot spend my days seven hours in my day to arrive to my home and to come back to my home. It's incredible".

Despite it all, the 1,200 remaining residents of Taybeh are still finding ways to survive and protect their Christian heritage. Fr Bashar and his team are doing the same. But they can't do it alone.

"We are facing a fanatic, radical mentality from the settlers," he explained.

"This is what we are facing inside our land. Not because we are Christians but because we are Palestinians, Palestinians who had the privilege to hear the Gospel from Jesus himself when he was in Taybeh, 2,026 years ago."

"We are a mission and we have a mission. And this mission is the Church. We believe the church has to be present in the case of war and in the case of peace and this is the history of the Church."

That presence is in the village kindergarten, the secondary school, a home for the elderly, two guesthouses, an online radio station and football and music academies. It's in the 150 permanent and 25 temporary jobs supported by the church and her partners. And it's in plans for the future including a ceramics workshop to employ up to 13 people, completion of a housing project and the building of a small hospital which would provide 15 nearby villages with a maternity delivery room, dialysis machines and intensive care facilities.

Fr Bashar, who also met with Catholic MPs and Peers whilst in the UK, appealed for prayers, advocacy to stop attacks, solidarity visits from the outside world and investments in jobs, housing and heritage preservation to ensure the long-term future of Taybeh and our collective Christian heritage in the face of unrelenting pressure.

Donations for the projects in Taybeh can be made here: www.lpj.org/en

Watch a podcast with Fr Fawaldeh: www.youtube.com/watch?v=SLQYaefP8uo