The ACT Palestine Forum (APF) expresses its grave concern regarding the escalating settler violence, military operations, and policies of coercion and displacement targeting Palestinian communities across the Occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem. A particularly concerning example are the recent settler violence and growing threats facing Al-Taybeh, a historic Palestinian Christian village. Attacks and intimidation against the community, its land, and its surroundings have increased fear and insecurity among residents and raise serious concerns about their ability to remain safe in their homes and on their land.
Father Bashar Fawadleh, parish priest of Christ the Redeemer Church in Al-Taybeh, has described growing fear and uncertainty among residents, including concerns that families may no longer be able to safely access their agricultural land and poultry farms. He has warned that the establishment of an outpost could impose a new reality by force and place further pressure on the people of Al-Taybeh to leave their land.[1]
The continued expansion of settlements, the growing violence perpetrated by extremist settler groups, and the increasing threats against Palestinian refugee camps and vulnerable communities represent a serious deterioration of the protection environment and a direct challenge to international law. The humanitarian consequences are profound. Communities face not only attacks on people and property but also a constant erosion of their sense of security, dignity, and hope for the future. According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), more than 3,200 Palestinians were displaced across the West Bank in 2026 as a result of settler attacks and demolitions, while settler violence has increasingly become a driver of displacement and has restricted access to housing, livelihoods, education, and other essential services.[2]
Beyond the documented incidents and statistics are the daily experiences of Palestinian families that are living in fear and insecurity. Parents worry about the safety of their children on the way to school. Farmers fear losing access to their land and livelihoods. Elderly people fear being forced from communities where their families have lived for generations. Many communities report feeling abandoned, unprotected, and powerless in the face of mounting violence and intimidation.
The ACT Palestine Forum emphasizes that settler violence cannot be viewed as isolated incidents. It has become part of a wider pattern of coercive measures that restrict freedom of movement, undermine livelihoods, separate families from their lands, and create conditions in which displacement becomes an ever-present threat. As churches and faith-based organizations, we are compelled to raise our voices when communities are threatened, and human dignity is under attack.
We call on churches, faith-based organizations, ACT Alliance members, and the global Christian community to stand in solidarity with the Palestinian communities in all of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and to take meaningful action to protect their right to remain safely and with dignity in their homeland.
APF calls upon governments and the international community to take immediate and concrete action to protect Palestinian civilians, prevent and stop settler violence, hold perpetrators accountable, and reject all forms of forced displacement and transfer, in accordance with international humanitarian and human rights law.
The protection of civilians is not a political choice but a moral and legal imperative. The people of the West Bank deserve to live with security, dignity, and hope rather than fear, insecurity, and displacement. The international community must act urgently to prevent further suffering and to ensure that international law is upheld for all people living in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
[1] Vatican News, “West Bank parish priest calls for action to preserve Christian village of Taybeh,” 7 July 2026 interview and testimony from Father Bashar Fawadleh regarding settler violence, the proposed outpost, threats to residents, and access to agricultural land. https://www.vaticannews.va/en/church/news/2026-07/west-bank-taybeh-christian-village-palestinian-interview-priest.html
[2] Humanitarian Situation Report, 10 July 2026 by the OCHA https://www.ochaopt.org/content/humanitarian-situation-report-10-july-2026
