C4P and a number of Belfast Churches and Parishes are exploring the proposal to twin with Christ the Redeemer Church in Taybeh,  Occupied Palestine.

Taybeh is the last majority Christian village in the occupied West Bank of Palestine. Taybeh has a significant historical and religious role in the Christian tradition. It was mentioned in Gospel of John where  it was known as Ephraim, the place where Jesus withdrew for rest before the events of His crucifixion. It was the place that Jesus visited to rest after he had raised Lazarus from the dead. So it is of great significance to the local Christians because their ancestors, the first Christians,  may well have listened to Jesus himself preach directly. 

Gaza has been the focus recently because of the terrible genocide perpetrated by Israel. The ceasefire while welcome  for the Gazan Palestinians is far from a road to peace with justice. Under the radar the ethnic cleansing in the occupied west bank has accelerated and is a focus now for the extremist Israeli government. There is no ceasefire in the Westbank.

Taybeh has been a focus for the illegal increased settler colonialist aggression towards the Palestinian people in the occupied West Bank. This has increased recently with the encouragement of the Israeli government and the support of the Israeli occupation forces. 

Father Bashar explained how the oppression of the Israeli regime has been undermining the existence of the Palestinian population both Christian and Muslim through a number of illegal strategic fronts namely

1. Employment 
2. Housing
3. Security

If local Palestinians cannot obtain employment locally they are forced to leave Palestine. Significant numbers of Palestinian Christians and Muslims have been driven out of the area because of the draconian regime imposed by the Israeli government that make running a business almost impossible because of the tight security restrictions.

Similarly housing is difficult to obtain and construct and when constructed is often outside the price range of local Palestinians. Once again they are forced to leave Palestine for other countries. Israeli Forces have demolished homes as well.

The third of these draconian tactics is security. Settlers have been encouraged to come from both Europe and the United States to set up temporary camps in these Palestinian areas. The settlers  attack their villages, destroy their cars, burn their crops and olive Groves and  attack their livestock. The settlers shoot at anyone who attempts to enter their lands and  have murdered local Palestinians. This lack of security means that many Palestinians think about leaving Palestine for the safety of their families.

To help overcome the ethnic cleansing and the murderous campaigns of the Israeli government,  we propose to start a twinning process . This will begin with Christ the Redeemer Church in Taybeh, with Father Bashar and St Johns the Evangelist, Falls Road Belfast, with Father Martin Magill. Both have agreed to start this process very soon. We will have face to face meetings to discuss and understand the situation in Palestine even better and plan  how we can provide, spiritual, emotional, and physical help for Palestinians in these very dark and troubling times.

Although both churches are Catholic we welcome participation from all denominations.  The Palestinians we hope to help are from a range of religious backgrounds, not just Christian. Once established we wish to expand the twinning programme.