Christians in the Holy Land have started to report Israeli settler violence to Pope Leo XIV.
This time, the Christian community in the Holy Land, and beyond, has decided to raise its voice.
Condemnations of the indiscriminate violence by settlers in the West Bank are mounting, particularly after extremists repeatedly targeted Taybeh, the last remaining entirely Christian village in the West Bank, including burning the historic Church of St. George and its cemetery.
A “very detailed” dossier on the matter is about to be submitted to the Holy See, for review by the Secretariat of State and then by the Pope.
A representative of the Holy See was in Taybeh yesterday with the patriarchs of the churches on a solidarity visit.
Among them was the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa.
“We have a representative of the Holy See here,” he said, “who has provided a detailed report. They are very well informed (in the Vatican, ed.), but I repeat, neither we nor anyone else have the power or the magic formula to immediately resolve these problems.” “Throughout the West Bank, and not just here,” the Franciscan cardinal denounced, “the only law that prevails now is that of power, of those who have the might and not the right. We must work to ensure that the law returns here too, in this part of the country.” Regarding the role of the Israeli army and police, who allegedly failed to intervene to stop the settlers, the Latin Patriarch, one of the most respected religious leaders, not only in the Middle East, simply said: “It’s very difficult for us to go into detail, to provide certain facts. Not all the people we see in military uniforms are actually soldiers; they could also be volunteers. What we can say, however,” he emphasized, “is that the law is not being enforced, so we ask those in authority to ensure respect for everyone’s rights.” Meanwhile, today the Franciscans of Assisi, the pontifical foundation Aid to the Church in Need, and the Italian Catholic Action Group (ACLI) have also spoken out against the settlers’ violence.
Even Vatican daily L’Osservatore Romano featured a front-page photo of the heads of Christian churches and diplomats gathered in Taybeh.
“These are cowardly attacks on unarmed people,” Father Ibrahim Faltas wrote in the Vatican media outlet today.
Yet, “not a single word of vengeance or hatred has been heard, but only the urgent plea for help to protect their peaceful lives in their land.” “The recent massacre of the Church in Damascus and what is happening in Taybeh and the West Bank,” he also writes, “are not part of what they would like to portray as a religious war. It certainly hurts to see sacred places offended and outraged by violence, but we must first and foremost defend and protect the lives of innocent and defenseless human beings.” The settlers’ goal is always the same: through fires and looting, they attempt to take as much land as possible from its rightful owners.
In Taybeh, they recently erected a sign addressed to residents with the words, “There is no future for you here.” “We called the coordination center between the Palestinian and Israeli governments twice,” the parish priest told ACS.
“They said they were coming, but they never showed up. They didn’t protect us, they didn’t stop the settlers, and that’s because they protect them, because many soldiers come from settler communities and are encouraged by fanatical elements in the government.” Last Sunday, at Mass, Pope Leo XIV spoke of “peoples who have been stripped, robbed, and plundered, victims of oppressive political systems, of an economy that forces them into poverty, of the war that kills their dreams and their lives.”
