The Palestinian Authority’s Committee for Ecclesiastical Affairs urged churches worldwide in a letter this Sunday to “adopt a public and explicit stance” regarding the record number of attacks by Israeli settlers that are recurring in the West Bank, including against Christian Palestinians.

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“These attacks threaten the historical presence (of Christians) in the territory,” it details in a statement released on its website.

The committee denounces that settler attacks against majority Christian towns such as Birzeit, Majrour, Taybeh, Ain Arik, and Ash al Ghurab “ranged from physical attacks and arrests to the confiscation of land and the expansion of settlements” with the aim of “changing the demographic and geographic character and forcibly displacing the population.”

Therefore, it urges the churches of the world to exercise “their spiritual, moral, and diplomatic responsibilities” and to pressure for Palestinians, including Christians, to be protected and not forced into displacement.

In one of the attacks that took place in Birzeit on January 24, an elderly Palestinian woman ended up in the hospital after being hit in the head with a stone by a settler who had gone to graze with others on her property, according to what her daughter said.

The continuous legalization of settlements by the Israeli government, together with the increase in settler violence, has led to the forced displacement of 45 Palestinian villages – including Bedouin pastoral villages – since October 7, 2023, according to the count of the Israeli NGO B’Tselem.

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