"Footnote in History: Australian Woman Worries About Future of Her Family's Ancestral Village"

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Dena Dahdal cherishes her memories of childhood summers spent in the village where her parents were born, and where her relatives still reside.

“My dad believed it was important for us to understand our ancestral roots … so we visited frequently,” the history teacher from Sydney shared with SBS News.

“It’s a place where Jesus walked along the same paths as my forebears.”

Taybeh is widely recognized as the last exclusively Christian town in the occupied West Bank. According to the Christian New Testament, Jesus once stayed in this village, known then as Ephraim, two millennia ago.

“We used to play hide and seek in everybody’s houses, the neighbour’s houses. I always felt safe when I was in Taybeh,” Dahdal said.

But now she says her family there are worried, feeling threatened and insecure.

a retro film photo of a man hlding a young girl with two girls standing in front of him

Dena Dahdal (top left) with her family in Palestinian village Taybeh. Source: Supplied / Dena Dahdal

A site steeped in history attacked

A recent alleged arson attack by Israeli settlers right next to the archaeological site of a fifth-century church has made locals fear for the village’s very existence.

Last week, Taybeh residents saw settlers setting fire to the fields around the Church of St. George and nearby cemetery, according to the Times of Israel.

The church no longer has a roof or all four walls but the original walls and mosaic tiles built by Christians in the fifth century remains.

The church of St George in Taybeh was built in the 5th century. Source: Supplied / Dena Dahdal

Parish priest of Christ the Redeemer Latin church in Taybeh, Father Bashar Fawadleh that people in the village are “so afraid” after a fire was lit next to the church last week.

“I’m so sad that I can see the fire beside the church and beside the mosaic and the land,” he told SBS News.

“Why do you make something like that against us, when we don’t have any problems against you?”

He said villagers ran to put out the fire.

Dahdal says the Church archaeological site is a very special place for her and her family and she felt angry at the thought of its destruction.

“It’s an ancient relic and something that can never be replaced,” she said.

“This village represents … an unbroken thread of Christian presence. The church stands as a testament to that. The fact that a fire came so close highlights the current struggles faced by the village.”

‘Cannot remain silent’: Faith leaders issue warning

Faith leaders among the Palestinian Christian community have raised serious concerns about escalating violence and harassment at the hands of Israeli settlers in the past week.

The heads of three churches from the village have released a joint statement condemning the attacks, saying this was the culmination of recent weeks of provocations, and that more than half of the town’s territory has become a target for illegal settlement.

The settlers were routinely seen grazing cattle on the land, damaging olive trees central to the livelihoods of Taybeh’s 1,200 residents.

“We cannot remain silent in the face of these relentless attacks that threaten our very existence on this land,” the heads of the Greek Orthodox Church, Latin Church and Melkite Greek Catholic Church wrote in a joint statement.

“Forcibly removing farmers from their land, threatening their churches, and encircling their towns is a wound to the living heart of this nation.”

Residents of Taybeh report that Israeli settlers have purposefully allowed cattle to graze near their olive trees, causing the animals to damage the crops. Source: Supplied

They called for an immediate and transparent investigation into the attacks.

Taybeh mayor Suleiman Khouriah recently said in a statement: “Entering these lands now comes with serious danger.”

“They’ve prevented us from harvesting our olives, most of which are located in the restricted area we are banned from entering.”

Father Daoud Khoury of the Greek Orthodox Church, Father Jacques-Noble Abed of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church, and Father Bashar Fawadleh of the Latin Church in Taybeh spoke out about an alleged arson attack in Taybeh. Source: Supplied

Fawadleh said Palestinian people are the “living stones of the land” and won’t move despite provocations.

In a statement to SBS, the Israeli Defence Forces said it acts decisively against any manifestations of violence within its jurisdiction.

The IDF is not aware of any new checkpoints being placed in the village or its surroundings.

Last year the International Court of Justice issued an advisory ruling that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories including the West Bank and settlements there are illegal and must be removed.

Israel captured the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem in the 1967 Middle East war and has since built settlements in the West Bank and steadily expanded them.

A woman wearing sunglasses smiling in front of a white brick wall

Dena Dahdal regularly visits the Palestinian village Taybeh. Source: Supplied / Dena Dahdal

Israeli leaders argue the territories are not occupied in legal terms because they are on disputed lands, but the United Nations and most of the international community regard them as occupied territory.

Dahdal fears Christian Palestinians could become “a footnote in Palestinian history”, issuing a plea to worldwide followers of the faith.

“I want the world, especially Christians, to stop romanticising the Holy Land while ignoring people who live there,” Dahdal said.

“If Christians around the world truly care about the land of Christ, they should care about the people who carry his message.

“Taybeh needs more than sympathy, it needs protection.”