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Qusra standoff escalates
Palestinian American Loui Ridi raised a large American flag over his West Bank home in Qusra, hoping it would deter extremist settlers besieging the property, but Reuters filmed a settler walking onto his land Tuesday during a tense face-off.
“"You came to make a mess, ha?"”
Ridi, who arrived in Kusra late on Monday after traveling from the US, was taking a morning walk among his cherry and fig trees when the settler approached from the hill above and said, "You came to make a mess, ha?"
An Israeli military vehicle passed several times before soldiers approached and told the settler it was a closed military area, while an Israeli soldier later instructed Ridi to enter his home and told him, "Just be inside, they go, and you'll be inside."
The confrontation unfolded as the siege around three Palestinian homes in the village had lasted more than a week, with US condemnation and the IDF saying it deployed forces to try to rein in the settlers and maintain security for residents.
Flags, accusations, and pressure
Ridi said he raised the American flag as a form of protection, telling Reuters, "I decided I want to raise this flag," and adding that if the settlers reached his home "they're going to raise (their) flag" only after moving his.
The U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee condemned the settlers besieging Ridi's home as "Israeli terrorists," while a U.S. official and an Israeli official said White House officials were pressing Netanyahu to publicly condemn the settlers' actions.
In Turmus Ayya, local officials said about 7 k.m. southwest of Qusra that 80% of the town's population holds US citizenship, and Yaser Alkam, 58, said American flags provide deterrence to both settlers and the IDF.
Alkam also framed the issue as a message to the Trump administration, saying, "Here's an American citizen being attacked in the West Bank by an American tax-funded army" and that "American weapons" were used against Palestinian Americans.
What comes next
The siege in Qusra continued for the tenth day, with the occupied West Bank described as facing "highly delicate conditions" amid broad attacks by Israeli settlers against Palestinians and their property.
“"We condemn the criminal violence carried out by any party in the West Bank"”
Al-Arabi Al-Youm reported a U.S. State Department spokesperson saying, "We condemn the criminal violence carried out by any party in the West Bank," while also stating that "stability in the West Bank keeps Israel's security" and aligns with the administration's goal to achieve peace.
In parallel, the same report said Democratic House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries urged President Trump’s administration to act against the settlers besieging Palestinian homes in the West Bank, calling the siege "violent and illegal" and "unacceptable."
As the standoff persisted, the report said the siege involved three houses in Qusra for about ten days, with shortages of food, medicine, and water and fears of an unannounced Israeli effort to push residents to leave the area.