Source: Agenzia Fides – MIL OSI
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Taybeh (Agenzia Fides) – “From that day on, they were determined to kill him. Jesus no longer walked openly among the Jews, but withdrew from there to the region near the desert, to a town called Ephraim. There he stayed with his disciples,” says chapter 11 of the Gospel of John.Today, Ephraim is the name of Taybeh, a Palestinian village in the West Bank, a few kilometers northeast of Jerusalem. The Christian community has been present here for two thousand years, and the village is still entirely inhabited by Christian Arabs.Yesterday, Tuesday, July 8, Israeli settlers set several fires near the town cemetery and the ancient 5th-century Church of St. George, threatening one of the oldest religious sites in Palestine. This was reported by priests Daoud Khoury, Jacques-Noble Abed, and Bashar Fawdeh, who oversee the three Christian communities of Taybeh (and thus the Greek Orthodox, Latin Catholic, and Greek Melkite believers).In a joint statement written “on behalf of the people of our city and our parishioners,” the three priests describe an emergency situation characterized by “a series of serious and repeated attacks against our city, threatening its security and stability and affecting the dignity of its inhabitants and its holy sites.””Had the residents not been vigilant and the intervention of the firefighters,” the text states, “a major catastrophe would have occurred. In a scene marked by daily provocations, the settlers continue to graze their cows on Taybeh’s farmland, amidst fields belonging to families in the city, and even near their homes, without any intervention or deterrence from the relevant authorities.” And “these attacks,” the priests say, “are not limited to provocations; they also directly damage the olive trees, which are the main source of income for citezens, and prevent farmers from accessing and cultivating their land.”The eastern part of the village of Taybeh, which covers more than half of the town’s territory and where most agricultural activities take place, “has become an open target for the illegal settlers, who are quietly expanding under the protection of the army and serving as a springboard for further attacks on the land and people.”In the message, the priests also appeal to local and international bodies, “especially diplomats and church representatives from around the world,” calling for “an immediate and transparent investigation into the arson attacks and the ongoing attacks on property, farmland, and holy sites, as well as for pressure on the occupying authorities to stop the settlers’ practices and prevent them from entering the city’s farmland or grazing their livestock there.” (F.B.) (Agenzia Fides, 9/7/2025)
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