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The Church of
St. George, a Byzantine structure, has drawn tourists to Taybeh, the
last wholly Palestinian Christian village in the Israeli-occupied West
Bank. (Maya Alleruzzo / For The Times) |
- Taybeh, the last entirely Palestinian Christian village in the occupied West Bank, confronts settler violence and possible economic collapse.
- ‘If we don’t get support soon,’ says the town’s deputy mayor, ‘we’ll be extinct.’
- A U.N. agency has tallied more than 1,000 attacks on Palestinians by Israeli settlers in the West Bank so far this year.
TAYBEH, West Bank — “Come visit Taybeh,” begins the brochure touting the touristic attractions here, the last entirely Palestinian Christian village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Though it counts Jesus among its many visitors over the years, said Khaldoon Hanna, Taybeh’s avuncular deputy mayor, these days “no one is coming.”
He sighed as he looked around the restaurant he owns on the village’s Main Street. It felt abandoned, with little trace of activity in the kitchen and a layer of dust coating most tables. Only one faucet worked in the bathroom, but it didn’t feel worth it to repair the rest.
“In the last two years, I haven’t had more than 20 tourists come in here,” Hanna said.
How could they, Hanna said, when you have to negotiate a growing gantlet of Israeli roadblocks just to get here? Or face off emboldened settlers who make increasing forays into the village to burn cars or destroy property... READ MORE https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2025-11-06/taybeh-profile-of-palestinian-christian-town-hed-tk