Cardinal Woelki denounces attacks on Christians in the West Bank

Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki, the archbishop of Cologne, visited Taybeh, the last entirely Christian town in the West Bank, from August 24 to 27. He returned deeply concerned about the situation of Christians in the Holy Land. The trip, organized with the Latin Patriarchate, took the cardinal and a German delegation to Nablus, Aboud, Ain Arik and Jerusalem to show solidarity with communities under growing pressure.

In Taybeh the group visited the Church of Christ the Redeemer, the radio station Pulse of Life Radio, the Latin Patriarchate school and the Ephraim Home for the Elderly. They also visited families that have suffered recent terrorist attacks. Woelki, who was named a bishop by Pope St. John Paul II in 2003 and made a cardinal by Benedict XVI in 2012, told residents: "We have heard your call and your cry for help, and that is why we are here."

Systematic attacks on the Christian community

Taybeh has about 1,500 residents and appears in the Gospel of John as Ephraim. For more than a year it has been attacked by Jewish terrorists from settlements and "outposts" that international law considers illegal. Father Bashar Fawadleh has called the violence "a deliberate strategy of harassment," intended to spread fear and force Palestinian families off their land.

Since at least July 2025, Christians in the area have seen farm fields set on fire, Molotov cocktails thrown at homes, vehicles burned and threatening graffiti painted, all of it amid a climate of impunity. On August 9 the Israeli army declared the "Taybeh and Rimon area" a closed military zone, barring access to Israelis and foreigners.

The cardinal's impressions

Woelki said it was urgent that young people be able to stay and build their future in the land of their ancestors, and he backed a two-state solution. He rejected violence as a way forward and appealed to faith, hope and common action. "When you meet the people, you can feel how close they are to the limits of their endurance," he said after visiting the owner of a cement factory whose machinery was destroyed by attackers.

At the end of the visit he said: "I am deeply moved by the situation of Christians in the Holy Land." He described communities under constant pressure from extremist settlers, with vandalism, arson and physical assaults part of daily life. "People here live in fear, and many of them have already left the country," he said.

Call for international solidarity

Despite the difficulties, Woelki praised the Christian values of the Palestinians he met. "The people of this land made a deep impression on me. On the one hand, I was surprised by their hospitality and their high Christian values; on the other, by their courage in refusing to give up and to remain in the Holy Land despite the difficult circumstances."

He said the situation had to be brought to the attention of German politicians and the German public: "When people are systematically subjected to intimidation, economic destruction and restrictions on their freedom, we must pass on this testimony to politicians in Germany and to our fellow citizens." He promised that the Archdiocese of Cologne would continue to back projects and support the churches of the Holy Land.