West Bank: A Christian village calls for help after attacks by Israeli settlers
Opinion (with AFP)
Taybeh – Diplomats and ecclesiastical officials roam the streets of Taybeh, as in a religious procession, a small Christian village in the center of occupied West Bank, attacked for weeks by Israeli colonists, according to inhabitants. Invited by the town hall and local priests, the dignitaries in costumes or sustains meet a farmer explaining that settlers prevent him from feeding his poultry, and further on, they come to observe the traces of an important start of fire that came to lick the surroundings of a Byzantine church. “It is more and more obvious every day that no law is respected (in the West Bank). The only law is that of force, ”comments the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, Pierbattista Pizzaballa. “The Israeli authorities have a role to play in doing the necessary investigations to find the culprits and condemn them,” adds the consul general of France in Jerusalem, Nicolas Kassianides, whom a resident thanks for the previous harvest of olives, as foreigners and Israelis do to dissuade any attacks. As for the representative of the European Union in the territories, Alexandre Stutzmann, he recalls the sanctions imposed on certain settlers and some of their organizations. “Solidarity”, “listens”, “support”: each of the leaders has their little word for the inhabitants. “Daily” throughout the Palestinian territory, occupied by Israel since 1967, the United Nations has document regular violence committed by settlers-some of the almost half a million Israelis installed in colonies, illegal with regard to international law. The UN has identified at least 27 attacks by Israeli settlers against Palestinians, “said a report on July 10. “We are suffering from daily provocations,” poses Father Bashar Basiel, describing the land damaged by foreign herds, or the aggressive visits of youth Israelis near the houses. Aloud: how could we get there in this village which is renowned for its coquette alleys and its annual beer feast, but not for its armed groups or its altercations with the Israeli army. Upon arrival: “In my opinion, the answer is that they cannot do much,” he said before recalling that the degraded situation has a very concrete consequence, the emigration of families. In Taybeh, “people (…) need a roof and work, this is the answer I expected patriarchs: trying to create jobs, try to build houses,” he adds, without being put down. At more than 70 years old, and like most of the old people in the village, he does not intend to leave him but he despairs of general helplessness in the face of colonization. “This is something that has been going on for some time, but that is currently gaining momentum, and they (the settlers) are unleashed”. In filigree, still points to another question, that which few inhabitants dare to formulate, that of their possible disappearance, he says. From a corner of the particularly flowery cemetery – it also affected by a start of fire attributed to the colonists – Qassam Mouaddi, who also lives in the village, contemplates the horizon by pointing the last settlers’s installations. A little exasperated by the Salamalecs of the day, this young journalist has the feeling of being in a dead end. “The message we receive (from the international community) is that we do not count,” he says, “and if we continue to exist in the next 50 years or not, it will not change the world scene”. Chloe Rouveyrolles-Bazire © Agency France-Presse
