The Palestinian Christian town of Taybeh, east of Ramallah and encircled by Israeli settlements, has come under a wave of settler attacks in recent weeks, prompting warnings from clergy, residents, and rights groups about a mounting campaign to displace the town’s population and seize surrounding farmland.
On June 26, dozens of Israeli settlers set fires at the eastern entrance of Taybeh while simultaneously launching a deadly rampage in the neighboring village of Kafr Malik. According to the Palestinian Health Ministry, three Palestinians were killed and seven others wounded in Kafr Malik. Several homes and vehicles were also torched. No injuries were reported in Taybeh.
The Israeli military said its troops responded to “mutual rock-hurling” between settlers and Palestinians and later opened fire on “terrorists” who allegedly shot at the soldiers. “Hits were identified, and it has emerged there are several injured and dead,” the IDF statement said.
Rights group Yesh Din reported that more than 100 settlers participated in the Kafr Malik assault, which unfolded in the presence of Israeli forces. Video footage circulating online showed flames consuming homes and vehicles.
Three Palestinian youths have died from critical injuries sustained during a violent settler attack on the village of Kafr Malik, east of Ramallah, the Palestinian Ministry of Health announced on Tuesday evening.
According to the ministry, the victims succumbed to their wounds… pic.twitter.com/rQxLQeC3m5
— Middle East Eye (@MiddleEastEye) June 25, 2025
Organized Israeli settler militias launched a terrorist assault on the village of Kafr Malik, setting fire to homes and vehicles & indiscriminately opening fire on residents. It resulted in the killing of three Palestinian civilians inside their homes & the injury of many others https://t.co/t5EGdsRfja pic.twitter.com/DFhls54OOe
— PM of Palestine (@PalestinePMO) June 25, 2025
Despite the severity of the attack, Haaretz reported that five Israeli suspects briefly detained by police were released without charges.
Taybeh is considered the last remaining town in the West Bank inhabited entirely by Christians. The village is surrounded by four Israeli settlements: Rimonim, Ofra, Kawkab al-Sabah, and the evacuated Amona outpost, where Palestinians are still barred from entering.
“This town is no longer safe for its people,” said Father Bashar Fawadleh, parish priest of the Church of Christ the Redeemer in Taybeh. “We do not live in peace but in daily fear and siege.”
Footage from yesterday shows part of the attacks by illegal Israeli settlers carried out on the Christian town of Taybeh near Ramallah in the occupied West Bank.
These attacks took place after the attacks on the town of Kafr Malik. pic.twitter.com/tLfmkwZhXI
— The Cradle (@TheCradleMedia) June 26, 2025
🇮🇱 #Israel – 🇵🇸 #Palestine: Israeli settlers have started a wave of arson attacks in the Christian Palestinian village of Taybeh, east of Ramallah, setting homes and vehicles ablaze in the occupied West Bank. pic.twitter.com/gYgFCFZWw3
— POPULAR FRONT (@PopularFront_) June 26, 2025
Fawadleh described a worsening crisis marked by settler land seizures, economic strangulation, and harassment. According to ACI MENA, settlers recently erected a new illegal outpost atop the ruins of a farmhouse on Taybeh’s eastern edge, in a critical agricultural zone spanning about 4,200 acres. The area is vital to the town’s economy, supporting olive groves, livestock, and seasonal crops.
“Since last October, more than 10 families have left Taybeh due to fear from ongoing violence and harassment,” said Fawadleh. “These days, settlers are grazing their cows on a hill planted with olive and barley fields right next to people’s homes.”
Nadim Khoury, owner of the Taybeh Brewery and Winery, said settlers have been increasingly grazing livestock on planted fields without consequence. “Settlers have been coming to Taybeh property and grazing their sheep and cows on the wheat and barley crops the people of Taybeh have planted. No one is stopping them,” he told OSV News.
Father Johnny Abu Khalil echoed the warnings in statements made to the Middle East Eye, pointing to a June 21 arson attack targeting a resident’s car in the middle of the night. “It was an attack by burning a vehicle, but we fear that these attacks will escalate to include the burning of trees, houses and churches in the village,” Abu Khalil said. “The settler does not distinguish between a Palestinian Muslim and a Palestinian Christian.”
He also described an incident in April in which a group of settlers harassed French nuns touring Taybeh’s mountains, reportedly holding them for hours. Though they initially left the country, he said they returned after local intervention and outreach to the French consulate.
Settler violence in the West Bank has surged in recent years, often with little legal consequence. In October alone, Israeli news outlet Walla documented 36 separate settler attacks, including arson, olive tree destruction, and vandalism.
Father Bashar Basiel, another priest in Taybeh, described the current environment as “barbarism and brutality.” In a message to journalists, he wrote: “We will win with hope. We are Palestinian Christians. We resist with our faith.”
The violence in Taybeh and Kafr Malik comes amid a broader surge in West Bank unrest following the war in Gaza. On June 25, a Palestinian boy was shot dead by Israeli forces during a raid in the town of al-Yamun, west of Jenin. In response, senior Palestinian official Hussein al-Sheikh said on X: “The government of Israel, with its behavior and decisions, is pushing the region to explode.”
While Israeli officials maintain that actions taken in the West Bank are aimed at countering terrorism, international condemnation of settler activity has intensified. Most of the global community views the approximately 160 Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem as illegal under international law, a position Israel disputes.
