JERUSALEM: Israeli settlers attacked the Palestinian Christian village of Taybeh in the occupied West Bank overnight, torching cars and spray-painting threatening graffiti, a witness and the Palestinian Authority said on Monday.

Jeries Azar, a Taybeh resident and journalist for Palestine TV, said his house and car were targeted in the pre-dawn assault.

“I looked outside and saw my car on fire, and they were throwing something at the vehicle and in the direction of the house,” Azar said. The Palestinian Authority issued a statement blaming “Israeli colonial settlers” for the attack on Taybeh.

Israeli police and the military said in a joint statement that a unit was dispatched to Taybeh and reported “two burned Palestinian vehicles and graffiti”. The statement said that no suspects were apprehended but that Israeli police have launched an investigation.

A photo shared by a Palestinian government agency on social media showed graffiti on a Taybeh wall that read: “Al-Mughayyir, you will regret”, referring to a nearby village that was also attacked by settlers earlier this year.

The Palestinian Authority’s foreign ministry condemned the attack, calling it “settler terrorism”. Germany’s ambassador to Israel, Steffen Seibert, also condemned the action, writing on X: “These extremist settlers may claim that God gave them the land. But they are nothing but criminals abhorrent to any faith”.

Taybeh and its surroundings have experienced several bouts of settler violence in recent months, including an arson attack at an ancient Byzantine church.

The village — home to about 1,300 mostly Christian Palestinians, many holding US dual citizenship — is known for its brewery, the oldest in the Palestinian territories.

Published in Dawn, July 29th, 2025