Holy Land: Jewish settlers 'occupy' Christian chapel

Taybeh

A small hermitage with a chapel, built on land belonging to the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, near the town of Taybeh, was the scene last week of a brief occupation by some Jewish settlers, probably from the nearby illegal settlement of Ofra.

The incident occurred on Friday, 19 April. The settlers moved into the hermitage and hoisted the flag of Israel on the roof. The hermitage and chapel, which was built by a Greek-Catholic monk, had been empty for the past year.

After the local Christian and Muslim community protested about the occupation, the settlers moved out.

On Saturday, 20 April, Bishop William Shomali, Patriarchal Vicar of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, visited the site along with the Christian mayor of Taybeh and the Muslim mayor of the nearby village of Deir Jarir, to hear directly from witnesses what had happened and toexpress the concern of the Church for the people of the area.

Bishop Shomali said: "I went to tell the people that we protect our Holy Places, and we do not allow others to come and occupy lands, homes and places of worship where we have been for years and centuries.

"It was more like a demonstrative act, to see what reactions it would cause." he said, adding that maybe the settlers had forgotten "that the law of the State of Israel considers occupations of land and property of others illegal."

Taybeh is a Palestinian village located 30 kilometres north-east of Jerusalem, inside the occupied territories of the West Bank, and 60 kilometres from Amman in Jordan. The village has an overall population of around 1300 inhabitants, all Christian, with Latin, Orthodox and Greek Catholic rites. For more information about Taybeh, see: www.taybeh.info/en/

Source: Fides/Taybeh