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Huckabee calls it terror
US ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee said a days-long siege of Palestinian homes by Israeli settlers amounts to “terror,” after Israeli settlers besieged three Palestinian homes in the village of Qusra near Nablus, including one belonging to a dual US citizen.
“amounts to “terror””
Huckabee wrote on X, “Actions by those who carried out this horrific act of terror meant to intimidate and harass this family are disgusting,” and said there was “No excuse for such thuggish behaviour.”
Al Jazeera reported Palestinian residents said they were cut off from water, electricity and other critical supplies during the siege, which they described as an attempt by the settlers to seize their land.
Al Jazeera’s correspondent in the occupied West Bank, Nida Ibrahim, said the village of Qusra “in general is under siege,” adding that every entrance to Qusra was blocked by the Israeli army to prevent other Palestinians from trying to come and offer help.
The siege was tied to a wider pattern of violence and land seizures in the occupied West Bank, with Qusra sitting in Area B under Palestinian civil administration and facing recent attacks including the burning of a newly built mosque last month.
Families trapped, supplies cut
In Qusra, Loai Ridi, an American-Palestinian who owns a house in the village, told Al Jazeera from Toledo in the US that his brother Qusai Abu Rida and 18-year-old nephew, Ahmed, were among those trapped inside their homes.
Ridi said the family was relying on a temporary solar power system and leftover well water from the winter after supply lines were cut, and he said, “He [Qusai Abu Rida] does not want to leave the home.”
Aisha Abu Rida, a Palestinian besieged in the town, vowed “not [to] leave our home, no matter what happens”, in comments to Al Jazeera.
The BBC reported that Israeli security forces were reported to have withdrawn from the Jewish settler outpost in Qusra near Nablus on Wednesday after clashes, with about a dozen settlers remaining at the site.
The BBC also said Palestinian security camera footage showed settlers tearing down a wall outside the Abu Ridi family’s home on Sunday evening and using the stones to block the road, leaving seven people unable to leave their homes while other Palestinians could not reach them.
IDF actions and wider fallout
While Huckabee defended Israeli authorities, saying they had gone to Qusra at the request of the US embassy “to remove the Israeli terrorists doing this,” Israel’s military said on Thursday it dismantled “two illegal outposts … on the outskirts of the Qusra and Jalud areas” and confiscated equipment while detaining one Israeli.
“dismantled “two illegal outposts … on the outskirts of the Qusra”
The BBC reported that the Israel Defense Forces put out a statement condemning the establishment of the new outpost, saying that entering and seizing Palestinian homes was “illegal, reprehensible, and unacceptable activity.”
Haaretz published an opinion piece that framed the Israel Defense Forces as issuing “condemn.”, with the text describing “The Israel Defense Forces ‘condemn.’” as a recurring posture.
In the wider West Bank context, Al Jazeera said violence and land seizures intensified in recent months with settlers emboldened by the right-wing government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, which oversaw a rapid expansion of settlement construction in the territory.
Al Jazeera also reported that Qusra sits in Area B and that the village faced a string of recent attacks, including the burning of a newly built mosque last month, while in the neighboring village of Jalud a similar two-week siege in July forced two Palestinian families off their land before settlers took over the property.
