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The head of the Greek Orthodox Church in Jerusalem said Israeli settler violence has escalated across the occupied West Bank and now extends to predominantly Christian communities, marking a troubling expansion of attacks that have intensified since October 2023.
Patriarch Theophilos III made the remarks during a meeting with foreign diplomats in Jerusalem, according to Palestinian official news agency WAFA. The patriarch, who leads one of the oldest Christian communities in the Holy Land, expressed concern that mounting restrictions on movement and worship in occupied East Jerusalem are disrupting religious observances that date back two millennia.
Theophilos characterized Israeli military measures as "unacceptable violations of religious rituals," emphasizing that access to holy sites represents a sacred right rooted in 2,000 years of faith and protected under existing arrangements. The restrictions have particularly affected Christian religious activities in East Jerusalem, he said, where freedom of movement and worship have become increasingly constrained.
The patriarch recently visited the Gaza Strip, where he witnessed widespread destruction from Israeli military operations. He stressed the importance of international efforts toward reconstruction following the devastation.
Israeli settler attacks in the West Bank and Jerusalem have risen sharply in recent months, with the violence now reaching towns where Palestinian Christians form the majority population, Theophilos told the diplomats. The expansion of attacks into these communities represents a geographical spread of settler violence that had previously concentrated in other areas.
Since Israel launched its military campaign in Gaza in October 2023, detentions, raids, and attacks against Palestinians have increased throughout the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem. The West Bank, home to approximately 3 million Palestinians and some 500,000 Israeli settlers, has seen mounting tensions as settlement expansion continues in territories captured during the 1967 war.
Palestinian officials have warned that the escalating attacks pave the way for Israel's formal annexation of the West Bank, which would eliminate any possibility of the two-state solution outlined in United Nations resolutions. The international community has long supported a framework in which an independent Palestinian state would exist alongside Israel, though prospects for such an outcome have diminished amid continued settlement construction and violence.
The Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem oversees one of Christianity's most significant presences in the Holy Land, maintaining churches and communities across historical Palestine. Christian Palestinians, while a minority in the broader Palestinian population, maintain deep roots in cities like Bethlehem, Ramallah, and several West Bank villages.
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