The last remaining Christian town in Palestine is struggling for its survival amid increasing attacks by extremist Jewish settlers and onerous security checks by the Israeli authorities.

Fr David Khoury, the Greek orthodox parish priest of Taybeh said they are surrounded by about nine Muslim villages with whom they get on well. “We have no problem with them – only the settlers who are making trouble, mostly every day,” he told RTE’s Tony Connelly.

“With beer, 95% of the beer is water. And so when they attack these springs and they break the water pipes, the computer systems, the cameras, it limits the water that we get even more,” said his daughter and brew-master, Madees Khoury.

Settlers from a nearby hilltop village have been accused of stealing sheep, burning olive groves and attacking locals with the Israeli military randomly blocking access in and out of Taybeh.

Every aspect of the exporting process has become increasingly problematic, because everything has to be shipped through an Israeli port.

“It’s exporting, going through additional security checks for no reason, more delays getting the permits to pass through the commercial checkpoints to get to the port,” explained Madees Khoury.

Nadim believes the Israeli government is bent on annexing the West Bank and forcing out Palestinians, using settlers as a blunt instrument.

“I have a family tree of 600 years in Taybeh. I’m not going to leave my olive oil trees and my houses and my property. There is no way that I will go anywhere,” said Nadim.