HISTORIC CHRISTIAN PRESENCE IN PALESTINE FACES EXTINCTION UNDER ISRAELI RULE

Tue 27 January 2026:

Palestinian Christian leaders are warning of the erasure of one of the oldest Christian communities in the world, as gangs of Israeli settlers continue to terrorise ancient villages in the illegally occupied West Bank.

Beit Jala, a Christian town just west of Bethlehem, has maintained an unbroken Christian presence since the 3rd century. Its residents trace their roots back to Aramaic-speaking communities, and its churches, schools and homes have stood for generations. But that presence is now under threat by Israel.

__________________________________________________________________________

https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaAtNxX8fewmiFmN7N22

__________________________________________________________________________

 Home to around 11,000 Christians today, Beit Jala’s residents are being forced to leave. Settlers have been seizing land in the surrounding area and preventing access to farmland and olive groves. Local residents report harassment and violence, alongside growing restrictions on movement and rising poverty under Israeli occupation.

“Beit Jala بيت جالا, a Palestinian Christian town near Bethlehem home to around 11K Christians whose roots trace back to Aramaic-speaking communities… today faces a wave of Christian emigration as settler gangs seize its lands and threaten their presence in their ancestral home,” a Palestinian Catholic outlet said on X

The warning follows a violent settler attack over the weekend in the village of Birzeit, north of Ramallah. In a public statement released today, Bishop Dr Imad Haddad of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land described how Israeli settlers broke into private property, attacked a Palestinian Christian woman and her family, and left her hospitalised in intensive care with a serious head injury. The woman was identified as 62-year-old Najat Emil Jadallah.

When the son of the women and others tried to intervene to stop the assault, Israeli forces fired tear gas and arrested three Palestinians, while the settlers were allowed to walk free.

Bishop Haddad confirmed that the woman and her son are the mother and brother of a teacher at the Evangelical Lutheran School of Hope in Ramallah. He also reported that settlers uprooted trees from lands belonging to families connected to the church community. “We stand in prayerful solidarity with the families, the school community, and all who are affected by this grave injustice,” the statement reads.

The bishop condemned the attack as one of several that took place over the same weekend, calling for an end to impunity and for international protection for civilians. “We call for the protection of civilians, an end to the culture of impunity, and real accountability for those who commit and enable violence,” he wrote.

Palestinian Christian, Ihab Hassan shared an image of Jadallah recovering in a hospital bed stating that “the Israeli army is still holding the sons of this Palestinian Christian woman, who was attacked yesterday by Israeli settler terrorists. Instead of arresting the settlers, the Israeli army arrested the victim’s sons and left the attackers free.”

Israel’s targeting of Palestinians Christians is part of a long pater of ethnic cleansing. In the 4th century, Eusebius of Caesarea, the “Father of Church History”, compiled the Onomasticon, a detailed gazetteer of Christian and biblical villages across Palestine. His records documented dozens of vibrant Christian communities spread throughout the region, including towns like Beit Jala, Bethlehem, and Nazareth, along with smaller villages.

More than 1,600 years later, Palestinian historian and cartographer Dr Salman Abu Sitta revisited these same villages, mapping their existence through the centuries, only to find that many of these ancient towns and villages were ethnically cleansed during the 1948 Nakba with the creation of the State of Israel. His research shows that Christian and Muslim Palestinian communities were expelled alike, their churches desecrated or left to decay, and their homes replaced by Israeli towns built on top of the ruins.

-MEMO

__________________________________________________________________________

FOLLOW INDEPENDENT PRESS:

WhatsApp CHANNEL 
https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaAtNxX8fewmiFmN7N22

TWITTER (CLICK HERE) 
https://twitter.com/IpIndependent 

FACEBOOK (CLICK HERE)
https://web.facebook.com/ipindependent

YOUTUBE (CLICK HERE)

https://www.youtube.com/@ipindependent

Think your friends would be interested? Share this story!