Catholic group: Israeli military disrupts preparations for Marian Festival in West Bank

Israeli military forces interrupted preparations for a Marian Festival in the West Bank early May 29, ordering organizers stop setup work and deploying a stun grenade, according to a U.S.-based Catholic human rights apostolate that supports vulnerable Christian communities in the Holy Land.

The Vulnerable People Project (VPP) said in a May 29 press release sent to Zeale News that organizers in the predominantly Christian town of Taybeh began setting up before dawn for the festival, which was intended to bring Christian families and pilgrims together for prayer, fellowship, and public witness to the Christian presence in the Holy Land. 

According to VPP, their early start was due to concerns about possible interference from radical Jewish settlers, who have for years carried out violent attacks against local residents. Instead, the group said, the disruption came from the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). 

VPP said an IDF vehicle entered the area at about 8 a.m. and ordered organizers to stop all setup work and leave the street. Soldiers then set off a stun grenade nearby, and about 30 minutes later, a second IDF vehicle arrived and repeated the order to stop setup, according to the group.

After the incidents, organizers and local residents observed increased military surveillance, including drones overhead and a helicopter in the area, VPP said. 

“The Christian communities of the West Bank have the right to gather, worship, and celebrate their faith without fear of harassment or intimidation,” VPP President Jason Jones said in the release. “We are monitoring the situation closely and stand in solidarity with the faithful who seek only to practice their religion in peace.”

According to the Daily Caller, citing a VPP statement, the parish priest overseeing the festival, Fr. F., immediately contacted Church authorities after the incident. The matter was eventually brought to Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, who spoke with Israeli authorities and secured permission for the festival to proceed.

“Our fear this morning was that radical settlers would disrupt preparations for the Marian Festival. Instead, it was far more disturbing to watch the Israeli military intervene,” Lex Pouliot, VPP’s manager of Middle East projects and a witness to the military incursion, told the Caller. “Hearing a stun grenade explode as Christians prepared for a permitted religious celebration brought into sharp focus the countless stories I have heard throughout my time in the West Bank. What I witnessed today should concern Christians around the world.”

The reported incident comes amid growing concern among Church leaders over deteriorating conditions for Christian communities in the West Bank, where Catholic and other religious authorities say radical settler activity and expanding Israeli settlements are threatening local Christians and the region’s Christian heritage.

>> Catholic apostolate warns of Christian 'erasure' as Israeli settlers establish new outpost in Taybeh <<

VPP has documented challenges in the region and recently launched a campaign called Save West Bank Christians to track settler expansion and violence in the Holy Land.

In a May 13 interview with Zeale News, Jones said that as part of the campaign, VPP would publish footage and incident reports gathered by a camera crew on the ground in the West Bank through a Substack connected to the initiative’s website. Jones said the group also plans to place billboards in the region warning settlers that “you will be held accountable” because the “world is watching.”

>> ‘We're watching you': Catholic apostolate confronts settlers on behalf of West Bank Christians <<

Pope Leo XIV has repeatedly spoken out on behalf of Palestinian Christians since the beginning of his pontificate. The first VPP billboard, erected this week in Taybeh, displays a photograph of the Holy Father with the caption “THANK YOU POPE LEO FOR SEEING US.”