Israeli settlers have encroached further in the Christian village of Taybeh in the occupied West Bank, with one U.S.-based Catholic apostolate warning the news is part of a larger trend that could result in “religious cleaning” and “the erasure of a Christian presence in the Holy Land.”
As Zeale News has reported, radical Jewish settlers attacked Taybeh, one of the last entirely Christian villages in the West Bank, and installed an iron gate at its entrance in February before they seized the village quarry, declared a takeover, and raised an Israeli flag over it in March.
Journalist and activist Andrey Khrzhanovskiy captured footage on the ground of the invaders setting up the new outpost just meters from Palestinian homes, where landowners have now been denied access to their own property. According to Khrzhanovskiy, settlers fenced off land surrounding the village, cut fencing around agricultural land, and circled the area overnight on May 3.
The Israeli military later declared the area a closed military zone, ordering some residents and activists to leave, although the settlers were allowed to remain.
🚨JUST IN: Israeli settlers today launched a campaign to ethnically cleanse the Christian village of Taybeh. Settlers are now establishing a new illegal outpost east of the village — the latest in a series of escalating moves that include seizing the village quarry, raising an… pic.twitter.com/DukdpK90tM
— Ihab Hassan (@IhabHassane) May 3, 2026
The Vulnerable People Project (VPP), an American Catholic organization, also verified that the outpost was established on privately owned land and that residents were being prevented from accessing their property. VPP described the new outpost as part of a broader effort of forced displacement.
“This is not an isolated incident — it is part of a concerted effort that will result in the erasure of a Christian presence in the Holy Land,” said Jason Jones, the VPP’s founder. “When families are displaced from their own property and threatened into submission, this crosses the line into forced displacement.”
“The world must recognize what is happening and stand with our Christian brothers and sisters,” Jones said.
Repeated incursions, land seizures, and movement restrictions are placing growing pressure on families in Taybeh to leave their homes. VPP said the ongoing encroachment is creating conditions that could amount to a “religious cleansing.”
“An entire community is being suffocated — economically, physically, and spiritually,” Jones said.
Speaking about the settler attack in February, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, said that there are “all kinds of abuses: people are prevented from working, they are deprived of their land, they are subjected to armed assaults and acts of vandalism, their homes are devastated, demolished, or confiscated.”