Vulnerable People Project Warns of Systematic Pressure to Erase Christian Presence in the West Bank
NEWS PROVIDED BY
The Vulnerable People Project
April 7, 2026
WEST BANK, April 7, 2026 /Christian Newswire/ — The transformation of the Shdema site into a civilian Israeli settler community now known as Yatziv marks a dangerous escalation in what observers are warning amounts to ecclesiacide — the systematic erosion of Christian life in the Holy Land.
According to Israeli reporting, the newly established settlement currently houses approximately 11 settler families, with plans to expand to between 400 and 500 families within the next decade. Such rapid growth is expected to encircle and choke surrounding Palestinian communities, including historic Christian populations in and around Bethlehem.
Local leaders warn that this expansion will place immense pressure on Palestinian Christians by restricting access to land, limiting economic survival, and isolating communities that have maintained a continuous presence in the region for centuries. The result, they argue, is not incidental — but part of a broader pattern that threatens the very existence of Christian life in the West Bank.
The Vulnerable People Project (VPP) is raising urgent alarm over what it describes as an accelerating campaign of displacement and intimidation.
“This is not just about land — this is about the deliberate suffocation of a historic Christian community,” said Jason Jones, founder of the Vulnerable People Project. “What we are witnessing is ecclesiacide: the slow, systematic destruction of Christian life in the place where it began.”
Recent events in Jerusalem have already drawn global attention to rising tensions. The widely reported incident on Palm Sunday, in which Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa was reportedly barred from entering the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, shocked Christians around the world. But advocates warn that while Jerusalem captured headlines, the same pattern of pressure is unfolding more quietly — and more dangerously — across the West Bank.
“An overt act in Jerusalem shocked the world,” said Jason Jones. “But what is happening in places like Bethlehem is more insidious — a sustained effort to squeeze these communities until they disappear. The world must not look away.”
The Vulnerable People Project is calling on the international community, church leaders, and policymakers to act immediately to stop further expansion, protect vulnerable populations, and preserve the Christian presence in the Holy Land before it is irreversibly lost.
For more information about the Vulnerable People Project and its mission to Save West Bank Christians, please visit SaveWestBankChristians.com.
PRESS CONTACT: Alexis Walkenstein, AWE PR, founder and president via walkensteina@gmail.com or 561-445-5409
ABOUT JASON JONES & THE VULNERABLE PEOPLE PROJECT:
Jason Jones is a film producer, author, activist, and human rights worker. He is president of Movie to Movement, the Human Rights Education Organization (H.E.R.O.) and founder of the Vulnerable People Project. The Vulnerable People Project advocates for persecuted communities around the world, with a focus on exposing human rights abuses and supporting vulnerable individuals regardless of faith or background.
SOURCE The Vulnerable People Project