Leo Morawiecki - The Tablet
In Jerusalem, pilgrim sites and businesses once again fell silent against the intermittent sound of air raid sirens and Israeli air defence systems intercepting Iranian missiles overhead.
Israel’s war with Iran will encourage settler attacks on Palestinian communities, according to a Catholic priest in the only Christian town in the Holy Land.
“Israel feels emboldened and for us as a Palestinian Christian town in the West Bank that means more violence,” said Fr Bashar Fawadleh, parish priest of the Holy Redeemer Church in Taybeh following the US and Israeli strikes on Iran on Saturday.
“On the same day as Israel attacked Iran, armed settlers came to the town and stole a horse,” he told The Tablet. “I don’t think that is a coincidence.”
Nevertheless, he insisted there was still hope beneath the fear in the town, which overlooks the Jordan Valley and the Dead Sea in an area of intense activity by illegal Israeli settlers who regularly attack property and disrupt farming.
“Not hope that the political situation will be resolved or we will be able to get access to our olive trees,” said Fr Fawadleh. “But hope that one day we will be free and that this life is the beginning of our resurrection.”
Taybeh is 30 kilometres north of Jerusalem, where pilgrim sites and businesses once again fell silent against the intermittent sound of air raid sirens and Israeli air defence systems intercepting Iranian missiles overhead.
Despite the rumbles of war in the background, many people expressed a sense of calm. In a predominantly Christian neighbourhood in Jerusalem, two young men explained why they remain unphased.
“Last year, as the war was going on, we would sit on the balcony of our apartment and watch as the air defence systems intercepted missiles coming east from Iran,” one said. “We recorded it on our phones and thought of it all as harmless fun.”
For many, however, when the air raid sirens go off there is no shelter or basement to hide in. Schools have closed and gatherings of large groups are forbidden.
George, who runs a small shop in the Old City Souk, is more concerned with the impact on his business than for the potential of regime change in Iran.
“The worst thing is the stop start nature of the fighting and the uncertainty which that brings,” he told The Tablet. “That is no good for business and we can’t seem to get a consistently high number of tourists into the city. Hopefully this will be the last round of fighting.”
In the Muslim quarter, car horns tooted as Iranian missiles flew past. One man operating a car repair garage said that he doesn’t feel as though Jerusalem is a target for the Iranians or its proxies.
“We hear and see the missiles but during the 12-day war [in June 2025] the worst that happened was a piece of shrapnel falling onto a car. Maybe it’s because we have very holy sites in both Islam and Christianity that there is less focus on the city.”