BRUSSELS
Following recent appeals from the Christian community of Taybeh in the occupied West Bank, church leaders have intensified their efforts to pressure Israeli authorities to end ongoing settler violence.
A "very detailed" file documenting recent attacks by Israeli settlers is set to be delivered to the Vatican for examination by the Secretariat of State and then by Pope Leo XIV himself, Italian daily il Fatto Quotidiano reported on Tuesday.
On Monday, a delegation that included a representative of the Holy See and the patriarchs of various churches paid a solidarity visit to Taybeh, where hundreds of Israeli settlers have reportedly engaged in looting, arson, and land seizures.
Among the visiting leaders was the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, and the Vicar of the Custody of the Holy Land, Father Ibrahim Faltas.
Pizzaballa described the current situation across the West Bank as lawless.
"Throughout the West Bank, and not just here, 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," he said.
Taybeh, the last entirely Christian village in the West Bank, with a population of approximately 1,500, has been targeted for weeks by hundreds of illegal Israeli settlers attempting to seize land and homes.
"There have been deaths in the area. Many have been injured. People have been forced from their homes. Buildings have been demolished. Fields set on fire. These are cowardly attacks against unarmed civilians," Faltas wrote in Vatican News on Tuesday.
Religious leaders called for urgent steps to protect civilians and ensure peace, emphasizing that the attacks should not be viewed as a religious conflict but a humanitarian crisis affecting innocents.
Since the start of Israel's genocidal war on the Gaza Strip in October 2023, at least 998 Palestinians have been killed and more than 7,000 injured in the West Bank by Israeli forces and illegal settlers, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.
In a landmark opinion last July, the International Court of Justice declared Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory illegal and called for the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.