Middle East (MNN) — In a recent press briefing, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said West Bank violence could spill over and undermine peace efforts in Gaza – but the US is relying on Israeli security to make sure that doesn’t happen.

Last month, violence in the West Bank reached its highest level since recording started in 2006. Jack Sara, from Bethlehem Bible College, says believers in the region are at risk.

Near-daily attacks by Israeli settlers are reportedly leading to a record displacement of West Bank Palestinians.

“Palestinian Christians, both in Gaza and in the West Bank, need prayers. The small communities that are remaining now in the West Bank are facing some existential threat to staying inside the country,” Sara says.

“Besides the political instability, besides the danger, the Jewish settlers living in the West Bank sometimes even target Christian villages.”

Attacks recently hit close to home for the college. “Not long ago, one of our students, his car was firebombed by settlers in the village of Taybeh, close to Ramallah,” Sara says.

Palestinian Christians
(Photo generated using AI/Gencraft)

Meanwhile, Palestinian Christians in Gaza are running out of options as winter approaches.

“After the ceasefire, many of them tried to return to what remained of their houses, [but] there is no place for them to return,” Sara says. “So, they refrained from either renting – if there is anything available – or just going back to the churches.”

Gaza City’s Catholic Holy Family Church and the Greek Orthodox Church of Saint Porphyrius shelter most of the tiny Christian community remaining in Gaza – only several hundred, by most estimates.

“Almost 400 people were able to leave during earlier ceasefire seasons,” Sara says.

Pray for continued peace so that Christians who remain in Gaza can rebuild their lives.

“We’re trusting that the American administration will continue to hold back the war machine of Israel, but that’s not guaranteed at all. It’s all in the air right now,” Sara says.

 

Header image depicts Jewish settlements on a hill above a Palestinian town circa 2011. (Wikimedia Commons)