Israeli settlers illegally occupy Christian village near Bethlehem, force residents out at gunpoint

Historian William Dalrymple writes: "The Israelis are eliminating one of the last Christian Palestinians strongholds in the West Bank and the place I chose to stay when I was researching the Palestinian Christians in From the Holy Mountain. It is a place with an incredibly ancient history, a cradle of Christianity, and its people have some of the closest DNA matches to the people of the time of Christ. Why is no one reporting this?"

On X (Twitter ) he writes: "Israeli Finance Minister Smotrich officially announces building a new settlement in Jabal al-Makhrur in the town of Beit Jala near Bethlehem. The settlers and the army have begun expelling the citizens and declaring it a closed military zone. Many of its residents are holding a sit-in in a tent and refuse to leave despite all the attacks. This is one of the last Christian Palestinian villages."

And this is also in the same week that Christian prayer services have been banned on Mount Tabor:

This regrettable stance is not isolated; comparable obstructions have also marred other sacred events, including Saturday of the Holy Light in Jerusalem. It is incumbent upon the Israeli authorities to uphold the inviolable rights of freedom of worship, access to holy sites, and the unimpeded performance of religious ceremonies-rights that are both inherent and guaranteed by international law to the indigenous Christian community in the holy land.

Within the last year attacks on Israeli Christians have also increased:

The findings are part of a report by the Jerusalem-based Rossing Center, called Attacks on Christians in Israel and East Jerusalem, which examined the increase in hostilities towards Churches and their members in 2023.

This included "a worrying increase in severe property and physical assaults" affecting communities in Jerusalem's Old City.

Speaking to Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), Hana Bendcowsky from the Rossing Center divided up the problems faced by Christians in the region into 'smash' and 'squeeze', terms used by human rights observers.

"The 'smash' describes incidents such as the attack on the Church of the Flagellation, where a statue was smashed with a hammer", she explained.

These violent attacks are mostly carried out by marginalised young ultra-Orthodox Jewish men with hardline-nationalist views, she added, stressing however that "even among the ultra-Orthodox such behaviour is not normative, the majority would not go into a church and smash a statue of Jesus."

"And the 'squeeze' pushes members of the community away, it is incidents like priests being spat at or a nun being told to take off her cross when she goes to the hospital.

Figured I'd provide a counterweight to @911roofer. I support neither side.