Claims that extremist local Jewish West Bank residents set fire to a 1,500-year-old Church of St. George in the Palestinian village of Taybeh may have been inaccurate, the Press Service of Israel (TPS) revealed in an independent investigation published on Sunday.
Taybeh, a Palestinian Christian town, is situated just north of Ramallah in the West Bank.
TPS said it found evidence that local Jewish residents were fighting the fire; however, the investigation was inconclusive as to who the perpetrators of the fire were.
Last Monday, Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem Theophilos III and Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, who was a leading candidate for the papacy, along with diplomats from 20 different countries, visited the church.
“Radical Israelis from nearby settlements intentionally set fire near the town cemetery and the church of St. George,” Theophilos III alleged. He said that it was a “targeted attack on a community that has long been a symbol of coexistence and peace.”
Local church leadership called for an investigation into the attacks and called on Israeli authorities to hold the perpetrators accountable. The Taybeh municipality released a video it claimed to show settlers setting fire to the church.
US Ambassador Mike Huckabee visited the site on Saturday, calling the alleged arson “an act of terror,” adding that “those who carry out acts of terror and violence in Taybeh - or anywhere - [should] be found and be prosecuted. Not just reprimanded, that’s not enough.”
“Taybeh is a quiet Palestinian Christian village… with a lot of American citizens, that has been vandalized – including fires set at the ancient church,” he wrote. “I visited there today. Desecrating a church, mosque, or synagogue is a crime against humanity & God.”
Jewish West Bank residents extinguishing fire
In footage viewed by TPS, young men from a nearby farm were seen running up the hill with fire extinguishing equipment and reflective vests, attempting to put out the flames. Footage on social media, posted by pro-Palestinian accounts that claimed the individual was an arsonist, showed a young man with a compressed air blower, usually used to help control and extinguish brush fires, according to TPS.
A shepherd involved in the incident, who is a minor, told the news site that while he was tending to his animals in the field, he saw a fire break out. He called the farmer to report the fire and attempted to smother the flames with his shirt. While doing this, he saw several Palestinians leaving the inflamed church cemetery, shouting and throwing objects at him.
Three separate fires were reported to police by a Jewish farmer on July 7, 8, and 11 in the areas of pastureland dozens of meters away from the church. The farmer had complained in all instances that someone had set the area ablaze where his livestock were grazing.
In all these instances, the church compound was deliberately targeted, a spokesperson for the Latin Patriarchate that has representatives in Taybeh told the news site. The spokesperson then said that groups of settlers entered Taybeh, causing “disruptions, frightening residents, detaining individuals locally, and generating tension.”
He noted that there was no video evidence of the arson, adding that it “happened as part of a sequence of troubling incidents.”
Israel’s police are investigating the case.
Amit Barak, a Christian affairs expert in Israel and a former project manager of the Christian Empowerment Council, claimed that the accusations against the Israeli settlers were politically motivated, while the chair of the Yesha council, Israel Ganz, labeled the accusations against settlers “vicious blood libels.”
“They are pawns. In the past, people blamed the Jews. Today, they blame ‘the settler,'” Barak said, according to TPS.
“These churches in Israel have very close ties with the World Council of Churches, a body that has always tried to play the game and wear masks,” Barak said. In June, the council called on churches and other institutions to sanction Israel, support war crimes investigations, and label Israeli actions as “apartheid.” Barak claimed that this statement “removed all the masks” and showed what alliances the council holds.
Barak alleged that church leaders do not check the facts and are “swept up by false accusations,” adding that “the campaign against Israel easily latches onto ‘the settlers’.”
Ganz said that these accusations against settlers are among “many false reports that are part of the Palestinians’ international war against settlement and the State of Israel.”
The Christian population living under Palestinian Authority control and Hamas rule has declined over the past century. In 1922, Christians constituted 11% of the population of these modern-day geographical areas, according to Jerusalem-based think tank The Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs. As of 1967, Christians comprised 6% of the population in the West Bank. In 2017, Christians made up just 1% of the Palestinian population in the West Bank.
The think tank cites violence and intimidation instigated by Muslims, left unchecked by Palestinian Authority police, as the cause of the decline, sharing testimony from Bethlehem's local Protestant clergy. In Bethlehem specifically, the population in the city and surrounding areas was 86% Christian. By 2017, only 10% of the city remained Christian. The think tank reports that the majority have emigrated.
Following the announcement of the probe, US Ambassador Mike Huckabee wrote on social media "Investigation reveals no damage to ancient church in Taybeh & investigation of origin of fire continues. I have NOT attributed the cause of fire to any person or group as we don't know for sure. The press has. I have said that regardless, it was crime & deserves consequences."