(Adnkronos) – Italy deplores ongoing attacks by Israeli settlers against Christians in the West Bank and rejects Israel’s recent moves to cement its control of the occupied Palestinian territory, foreign minister Antonio Tajani said on Wednesday.
“We have always strongly condemned attacks by extremist settlers against Christian communities and places of worship in by Israel,” Tajani told MPs during question time.
Israel’s security cabinet on Sunday passed measures to tighten its control of the West Bank and strengthen Israeli settlements there. The move, aimed at pre-empting an independent Palestinian state, has sparked a a global backlash, including a reiteration from the White House of president Donald Trump’s opposition to annexation of the West Bank by Israel.
The Palestinian Presidential Higher Committee for Church Affairs warned earlier this month that attacks by Israeli settlers are jeopardising the historic Christian presence in the West Bank and have intensified across several of its areas.
The attacks on Christians range from physical assaults and arrests to land seizures and the expansion of settlement outposts, the committee warned, urging churches worldwide to take urgent, public action to protect Palestinian civilians including Christians.
Jewish settlers were responsible for over 4,720 attacks in the West Bank last year, the committee said, citing figures from the Palestinian governmental Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission.
Israeli forces and illegal settlers have killed at least 1,110 Palestinians in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and injured at least 11,500 others since October 2023, according to Palestinian figures.
In a landmark opinion in July 2024, International Court of Justice ruled that the Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem are illegal and demanded their evacuation.
