Palestinian Church Official Calls on Global Christian Leaders to Address Escalating Attacks and Restrictions on Palestinian Christians

Ramzi Khouri, a senior Palestinian church affairs official and member of the Palestine Liberation Organization’s Executive Committee, has urged global Christian leaders to take action amid escalating attacks, land confiscations, and restrictions affecting Palestinian Christians in the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem. In a letter to church leaders, Khouri highlighted the increasing pressure on Palestinian Christian communities, emphasizing the impact of settler violence and Israeli policies on their daily lives.

Khouri described how Palestinian Christians across the West Bank, including in Jerusalem, are facing a range of challenges. These include settler attacks, land confiscations, and settlement expansion, which have restricted access to religious sites and hindered worship. Clergy, nuns, and church institutions have also been subjected to verbal and physical attacks and acts of vandalism, with Khouri noting a growing sense of impunity among perpetrators.

Christian communities in areas such as Bethlehem, Beit Jala, Beit Sahour, Taybeh, Birzeit, and Ein Arik are experiencing heightened pressure from settlement expansion, attacks, and economic hardship. According to figures cited in Khouri’s letter, more than 200 Palestinian Christian families have left their communities since 2023. In Taybeh, the last entirely Christian town in Palestine, over 90 residents have reportedly departed during the same period.

Khouri attributed these departures to a combination of security concerns, land restrictions, economic pressures, and a lack of prospects for Palestinian Christians seeking to remain in their communities. The situation in occupied East Jerusalem is particularly concerning, with restrictions and barriers increasingly separating the city from the rest of the West Bank and limiting access to holy sites for both Palestinian Christians and Muslims.

In the first half of 2026, more than 100 anti-Christian incidents were recorded in and around Jerusalem’s Old City, more than twice the number reported during the same period in 2024. These incidents included spitting, verbal abuse, threats, vandalism targeting monasteries, and harassment against Palestinian Christians, foreign clergy, and religious sisters. Khouri also criticized municipal taxation of church properties, which he said violated the long-standing Status Quo arrangements governing religious sites in Jerusalem.

Khouri cited concern expressed by the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations over violence and harassment targeting Christians in East Jerusalem. His letter underscores the urgent need for global Christian leaders to address these challenges and advocate for the protection of Palestinian Christians and their communities.

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