Jordan’s Abdullah labels Israel’s actions in Gaza ‘genocide,’ condemns settler attacks on West Bank Palestinians

King Abdullah II of Jordan labels Israel’s actions in Gaza “genocide,” in a written statement in which he also condemns extremist settler attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank.

The king condemns in particular what he says are “brutal attacks recently carried out by extremist settlers” at the Church of St. George in the Christian West Bank town of Taybeh, in reference to an arson attack at the site last week.

Abdullah’s written statement was delivered by Patriarch Theophilos III of Jerusalem during a press conference in Taybeh held by senior church leaders to draw attention to extremist settler attacks in the twon and the surrounding area.

“His Majesty denounces the settlers’ act of setting fire to trees within the cemetery [of the Church of St. George], in a blatant violation of the sanctity of the dead, Christian holy sites, and [the] Christian presence in the Holy Land,” reads the statement.

The Jordanian king says that the “severity of the settlers’ assaults, their daily terrorization of Palestinians, and their systematic aggression against dozens of villages, towns, and camps in the occupied Palestinian territories demand an immediate firm international position to halt these attacks — especially the ongoing genocide of killing and starving children, women, the elderly, and civilians in the Gaza Strip.”

Last week, Taybeh residents said they witnessed extremist settlers starting a fire next to the ruins of the Church of St. George in the town which damaged a Christian cemetery next to the site.

Residents of the town have also complained of severe, ongoing harassment by such settler activists in recent weeks, and of harming agricultural activity and damaging olive groves on Taybeh land.