Israeli military closes Taybeh to non-residents after repeated settler attacks
The army said the restriction is intended to stop repeated settler attacks; the order covers Israelis only.
The Israeli military has declared the Christian village of Taybeh in the West Bank a closed military zone for people who do not live there, saying the measure aims to halt mounting attacks by Israeli settlers against Palestinians in the area.
Army says restriction targets Israelis, not Palestinians
The army clarified that the order applies only to Israelis and does not include Palestinians. "Following each report of a breach of the order, soldiers of the Israel Defense Forces are dispatched to the site, where they disperse gatherings and arrest suspects, in order to protect residents and maintain order," the army said.
Taybeh is one of the few remaining Christian villages in the West Bank and is home to the Taybeh Brewery, regarded as the oldest microbrewery in the Middle East.
Local Palestinian firefighters and a village priest said that in June Israeli settlers blocked Palestinians from extinguishing a large blaze near Taybeh. The priest warned of "a persistent pattern of intimidation and unjustified violence" that threatens residents' basic rights.
A recent United Nations inquiry concluded that Israeli authorities were directly involved in settler attacks in which Palestinians were killed, injured and displaced on the West Bank. The Israeli mission in Geneva rejected those findings, saying that Israeli officials, including the president and the prime minister, have repeatedly condemned violence against Palestinians.
Several Western countries have imposed sanctions on Israeli settler groups over violence toward Palestinians. Around 50,000 Palestinian Christians live in the West Bank and Jerusalem, a faith community with roots in the region dating back to antiquity and that includes some of Christianity's holiest sites.
Photo: EPA-EFE/ATEF SAFADI
