Amid West Bank Jewish settler violence, IDF arrests Christian student at gunpoint

Christian leaders and advocacy groups are warning that Palestinian Christians in the West Bank face growing pressure as Israel moves forward with a major settlement expansion and reports emerge of increasing settler activity around Christian communities.

Christian student taken at gunpoint in West Bank

Palestinian Lutheran church leaders expressed alarm over the arrest of a Christian university student in the West Bank, saying they were unable to determine her whereabouts after Israeli forces detained her during a raid.

According to Vatican News, church officials and media reported that Natalie Abu Dayyeh, a student at Birzeit University and a member of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land, was arrested June 3 along with three other Palestinian women. Bishop Imad Haddad of the Evangelical Lutheran Church said the church was "deeply shocked and horrified" by the arrest and by reports that Abu Dayyeh's family initially did not know where she had been taken.

"We are incredibly disturbed" by the arrest, Haddad said in a statement.

The Israeli military said the four women were arrested on suspicion of "promoting terrorist activities," according to a report by Vatican News. The military did not immediately provide additional details about the allegations.

Jason Jones, founder of the U.S.-based Catholic organization the Vulnerable People Project, warned that the arrest was part of a broader pattern of Israeli-backed intimidation efforts against indigenous Christians in the West Bank.

"From a student taken from her bed at gunpoint to settlers driving to the doors of a church, we are watching a deliberate effort to break the spirit of the Christian community in the Holy Land," Jones said in a statement.

As Zeale News reported, the Vulnerable People Project recently launched the project SaveWestBankChristians to confront the growing settler violence in the region. 

Vatican News interviewed Palestinian human rights activist Ihab Hassan, manager of the project, for its report on the arrest of Abu Dayyeh. "This is not an isolated incident,” Hassan warned. "This is a pattern.”

Birzeit University criticized the arrests, describing them as part of what it called Israeli policies targeting Palestinian students and higher education institutions.

The news comes amid ongoing Israeli military operations across the West Bank, where violence has surged since the beginning of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza following the October 7, 2023 Hamas terrorist attack. Israeli forces have conducted frequent raids in Palestinian cities, towns, and universities, saying they are targeting militants and their supporters.

Church leaders and Palestinian activists said Abu Dayyeh's detention has heightened concerns among the territory's Christians. They pointed to the case of another Christian student at Birzeit University, Layan Nasir, who was released in May after spending months in Israeli detention.

The Evangelical Lutheran Church called for Abu Dayyeh's immediate release and said it was monitoring the situation closely.

Israel expands settlement plans 

On the same day as the arrest, Israeli officials announced they had approved plans for more than 2,000 new housing units in Jewish settlements across the West Bank. The move will likely draw criticism from Palestinians and much of the international community, which considers the settlements illegal and an obstacle to peace.

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a key partner in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government and an outspoken advocate of expanding Israeli control over the territory, said a planning committee approved 2,162 housing units in three settlements.

The plans include 1,006 homes in a settlement near Jerusalem, 922 near the Palestinian city of Nablus, and 234 near Hebron, according to Israeli officials.

“I say to the people of Israel: come live in the West Bank,” Smotrich said in a statement announcing the approvals. “I hope that this incentive will help us bring one million settlers and kill the idea of a Palestinian state.” 

Pope Leo XIV has repeatedly affirmed the right of Palestinians in the region to retain their land and pursue recognition for a Palestinian state. As Zeale News reported, the Holy Father decried the humanitarian crisis facing Palestinians in January during a speech in which he also reaffirmed the Vatican’s support for a two-state solution.

“Yet sadly there has been an increase in violence in the West Bank against the Palestinian civilian population,” Pope Leo said, “which has the right to live in peace in its own land.”

Smotrich’s announcement poses a direct challenge to the Holy See’s position as articulated by the Pope, and represents the latest step in the Israeli government's effort to expand territory captured by Israel in the 1967 Mideast war that Palestinians seek as the main part of a future independent state.

About 500,000 Israeli settlers live in the West Bank among roughly 3 million Palestinians. Most countries view the settlements as illegal under international law, though Israel disputes that interpretation.

Smotrich, who oversees parts of Israel's civilian administration in the West Bank, has repeatedly called for growing Israel's presence in the territory and has opposed the creation of a Palestinian state. He said the newly approved homes would reinforce Israel's control of the land and strengthen security.

In an exclusive interview with Zeale News, Catholic scholar Gavin D’Costa, a professor at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome known for his expertise in Zionism as it relates to Catholicism, named Smotrich as an example of an “extreme” Zionist. 

The actions and rhetoric of men like Smotrich, as well as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, represent “extreme forms” of Zionism, D’Costa said. “[A]nd you know we've got to remember these people had been declared unsafe to hold office and declared to have terrorist opinions,” he added. “Now they're running the place!”

Trump has said he would not support Israeli annexation of the West Bank.

The settlement approvals come as Israel faces growing international scrutiny over its policies in the occupied territories. 

Settlement construction has accelerated under Netanyahu's current coalition, which includes several nationalist and religious parties that support expanding Israeli communities across the West Bank and oppose Palestinian statehood.