Pressure has been ramping up on the Latin Catholic community over the past 12 months – especially in June 2025 when settler attacks as well as an increase in checkpoints led to a marked deterioration in the quality of life for the Christians and their neighbours.

Olive trees have been destroyed, cars have been set alight in the violence that goes unchecked by the authorities.

“We are facing a very bad situation because we are Palestinians,” says Fr Bashar. “Here, they’re starting to occupy more land, grazing their cows and sheep on our land, and also setting fire to cars.”

“They burn fire also behind the ruins of St George El Khader Church. This Church is from the fifth century.”

The Bishops celebrated Mass with the local community, meeting local Christian families and hearing first-hand their struggles.

In this interview, Fr Bashar explains that the community is resilient but they are also challenged by their numbers diminishing as people move away.  

“We are ‘bleeding’ because of migration because the people are afraid – a lot of people are thinking about their future – the future of their kids. We don’t have the opportunity to support our people and to stop all of these attacks. But we thank all the people, all the diplomatic missions, all the churches, all the heads of the churches who still give us a lot of love, a lot of support, a lot of encouragement, and a lot of solidarity. We still need this solidarity and this encouragement to stay in this land. 

“The churches still also exist, in all dimensions of the life of the people here in Taybeh and everywhere. We are here because we are Church, and the Church has continued her presence with commitment and resilience.”

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We stand alongside the Holy Land’s Christian leaders, who have warned that the Israeli Government’s plan to annex parts of the West Bank after 1 July “would bring about the loss of any remaining hope for the success of the peace process.”

All our Churches are committed to promoting justice and peace for everyone who calls the Holy Land their home. If annexation proceeds, it would gravely undermine international law with serious consequences for the common good of our global society.

The UK Government should do everything in its power to deter annexation. Only a robust response, working alongside others in the international community, can help to prevent this tragedy.

We remain united in prayer that plans for annexation will be abandoned, allowing for renewed efforts towards a negotiated solution that upholds the human dignity of Palestinians and Israelis alike.

Rt Rev Declan Lang
Bishop of Clifton
Catholic Church

Derek Estill
Moderator of the General Assembly
United Reformed Church

Rt Rev Dr Martin Fair
Moderator of the General Assembly, Church of Scotland

Paul Parker
Recording Clerk
Quakers in Britain

Rev Dr Jonathan Hustler
Secretary of the Methodist Conference

Rt Rev Christopher Chessun
Bishop of Southwark
Church of England

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Their intervention follows a recent statement by the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster expressing the churches’ strong opposition to plans for annexation, which local Christian leaders have warned would “bring about the loss of any remaining hope for the success of the peace process.”

Rt Rev Declan Lang (Bishop of Clifton and Chair of the Holy Land Coordination group) and the Rt Revd Christopher Chessun (Bishop of Southwark and Anglican representative on the Holy Land Coordination group) said:

“From our dialogue with communities in the Holy Land, we know first-hand that the situation is rapidly deteriorating. Annexation would only bring more conflict, suffering and division.

The UK Government has a duty to act and to do everything possible to dissuade the Government of Israel from annexing the West Bank in violation of international law.

This week we have made representations to the government and senior parliamentarians about the situation. Alongside other churches and faith groups we will continue to work on this fundamental question of justice and peace.”

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These letters followed the recent warning from the leaders of Churches in the Holy Land that the Government of Israel’s proposed annexation of West Bank territory would “bring about the loss of any remaining hope for the success of the peace process.”

In each letter they made clear they “unambiguously support the fundamental right of Israel’s citizens to live in peace and safety but these prospects can only be secured through negotiation rather than annexation.”

It is essential that both Israelis and Palestinians may live without violence or the threat of violence from each other or other armed groups, the Cardinal and Archbishop emphasised.

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The leaders warn that the move to annex West Bank land raises “serious and catastrophic questions about the feasibility of any peaceful agreement to end the decades’ long conflict”.

Bishop Declan Lang re-iterates the warning:

“As the local Church leaders have warned, annexation would destroy any hope of a peaceful two-state solution.

“The Catholic Church in England and Wales will continue to stand in solidarity with our sisters and brothers in the Holy Land against any such move.”

Patriarchs’ and Leaders’ Letter

Statement: Israeli Unilateral Annexation Plans

7 May 2020

As a result of the stagnation of the Peace Process in the Middle East between the Israelis and Palestinians, an array of plans for Israel to unilaterally annex West Bank land, backed mainly by right-wing factions, raises serious and catastrophic questions about the feasibility of any peaceful agreement to end the decades’ long conflict, one that continues to cost many innocent lives as part of a vicious cycle of human tragedy and injustice.

The Council of Patriarchs and Heads of the Holy Land Churches views such unilateral annexation plans with the utmost concern and calls upon the State of Israel to refrain from such unilateral moves, which would bring about the loss of any remaining hope for the success of the peace process.

The Council also calls upon the United States of America, the Russian Federation, the European Union, and the United Nations to respond to these unilateral annexation plans with a time delimited and phased Peace Initiative in line with International Law and United Nations resolutions on the matter, in order to guarantee a comprehensive, just, and long-lasting peace in this part of the world that is considered Holy by the three Abrahamic Faiths.

We also call upon the Palestinian Liberation Organization, as the sole legitimate Representative of the Palestinian people, to resolve its internal disputes-as well as any conflicts with other factions that are not under its umbrella-in order to present a unified front dedicated to achieving peace and the building of a viable State that is founded upon pluralism and democratic values.

Patriarch Theophilos III
Greek Orthodox Patriarchate

Patriarch Nourhan Manougian
Armenian Apostolic Orthodox Patriarchate

Archbishop Pierbattista Pizzaballa
Apostolic Administrator, Latin Patriarchate

Fr Francesco Patton, OFM
Custos of the Holy Land

Archbishop Anba Antonious
Coptic Orthodox Patriarchate, Jerusalem

Vicar General Father Gabriel Daho
Syrian Orthodox Patriarchate

Archbishop Aba Embakob
Ethiopian Orthodox Patriarchate

Archbishop Yaser Al-Ayash
Greek-Melkite-Catholic Patriarchate

Archbishop Mosa El-Hage
Maronite Patriarchal Exarchate

Archbishop Suheil Dawani
Episcopal Church of Jerusalem and the Middle East

Bishop Ibrahim Sani Azar
Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy land

Father Ephram Samaan
Syrian Catholic Patriarchal Exarchate

Rt Rev. Joseph Nerses Zabarian
Armenian Catholic Patriarchal Exarchate

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