Israeli Settlers' Siege Draws US Rebuke08/14 06:37

   

   QUSRA, West Bank (AP) -- For five nights, Israeli settlers surrounded three 
Palestinian homes on the outskirts of a town in the occupied West Bank, 
preventing the families from leaving safely as their food and water supplies 
dwindled.

   Qusai Abu Rida was holed up inside with his teenage son when settlers cut 
the water and electricity, leaving them to drink well water as dozens of 
Israeli settlers erected tents outside. His Palestinian American brother in 
Ohio, who owns the house, watched the siege unfold on security cameras and 
called for updates.

   The standoff in the northern West Bank town of Qusra is the latest in a wave 
of settler violence convulsing the territory, which Israel seized in the 1967 
Mideast war and which would make up the main part of a future Palestinian state.

   On Thursday, U.S. Ambassador Mike Huckabee referred to the settlers as 
"terrorists" -- a word American officials usually reserve for Palestinian 
militants. It was an unusually sharp rebuke from the administration of U.S. 
President Donald Trump, who has given unprecedented support to Israeli 
settlement over the years.

   Mounting criticism of Israel from the United States could pose a challenge 
for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is trying to maintain good relations 
with his country's closest ally as he mobilizes ultranationalist voters ahead 
of a tough battle for reelection in October.

   Settlers have remained in the area despite the army intervening

   On Sunday, dozens of settlers arrived at the homes in Qusra, blocking doors 
and preventing occupants from leaving, according to the families.

   Israeli troops have intervened multiple times, but the settlers keep 
returning, said Loui Ridi, the homeowner in Ohio who spells the family name 
differently. Rights groups have long accused Israeli forces of turning a blind 
eye to settler violence or of intervening to protect the settlers.

   "It's a cycle," Ridi said. "They need to be prevented from the entire area, 
not just removed and moved 100 feet away so when the (Israeli military) leaves, 
they come back."

   On Tuesday, Israel's military condemned the siege as "illegal, 
reprehensible, and unacceptable," and declared Qusra a closed military zone. 
The next day, dozens of settlers returned, tried to block the road with rocks 
and clashed with Israeli soldiers, according to video shot by village residents.

   On Thursday, the military said troops dismantled "two illegal outposts" in 
Qusra and a nearby village, and detained one Israeli. It said more soldiers 
were sent to "carry out defensive missions and patrols."

   Qusra Mayor Abdel Azim Wadi said that Israeli forces evacuated more than a 
dozen homes to take up positions in the village. The settlers, though removed 
from their outposts, remain in other parts of the village, he added.

   Abu Rida said soldiers gave the occupants of all the homes 30 minutes to 
evacuate and move into one of the besieged houses. The military said the 
soldiers have been told to allow families to remain in their homes and not to 
operate in them, but families have not yet returned, Abu Rida said.

   It's still not clear when families in the besieged area will be able to get 
basic supplies and what would happen to their homes. Israel's military said the 
families had basic supplies like food and water when it checked in on them on 
Wednesday.

   But Ridi said Thursday that after water and electricity lines had been 
reconnected, settlers cut them again.

   Settler violence has surged in recent years

   Netanyahu's government, the most ultranationalist and religious in Israel's 
history, has presided over a surge of settlement construction in the West Bank. 
It views the West Bank as the biblical and historical homeland of the Jewish 
people and is opposed to the creation of a Palestinian state.

   On Thursday, members of Netanyahu's Cabinet joined in celebrating the 
rebuilding of a settlement elsewhere in the West Bank that had been dismantled 
in 2005. "The era of withdrawals and expulsions has ended. The era of 
construction and Zionism begins," Defense Minister Israel Katz said at the 
ceremony.

   During Trump's first term, he signaled broad acceptance of the settlements, 
which most of the international community views as illegal and an obstacle to 
peace. At the start of his second term, he lifted sanctions imposed by the 
Biden administration on settlers accused of violence.

   Huckabee, a longtime supporter of the settlements, has condemned the rising 
violence.

   "Actions by those who carried out this horrific act of terror meant to 
intimidate and harass this family are disgusting," Huckabee said in his post 
about the events in Qusra. He said the embassy has been coordinating with the 
Israeli military and police.

   Qusra has been a focus of settler attacks

   The U.N. humanitarian office in April said it had recorded more settler 
attacks in Qusra than in any other West Bank community in 2026. A 25-year-old 
resident was shot and killed by an off-duty Israeli reservist in March, and 
eight others have been wounded in the attacks, according to the U.N.

   Violence between settlers and Palestinians last month left two Israelis and 
four Palestinians dead in a nearby northern West Bank village. In the 
aftermath, a mosque in Qusra was set on fire and the word "revenge" was 
graffitied on its wall in Hebrew.

   A total of 87 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli settlers and soldiers 
this year, according to the Palestinian Authority's Health Ministry. Israel 
says some were involved in terrorism, which it defines broadly to include 
militant attacks and rock-throwing. Palestinian authorities do not distinguish 
between militants and civilians when recording deaths in the conflict.

   Palestinian officials have reported 1,476 attacks by Israeli settlers in 
2026, including several instances in which settlers seized Palestinian homes 
and property.

   The military says it works to maintain law and order in the territory, and 
Israeli Cabinet ministers have blamed the attacks on a small group of young 
extremists acting outside the law.

   Some 2.8 million Palestinians live under Israeli military rule in the West 
Bank, with the Palestinian Authority exercising limited autonomy in population 
centers. The settlers, who now number over 560,000, are Israeli citizens. There 
have been no Israeli-Palestinian peace talks in over a decade.

   "This is not a life that can continue this way," said Wadi, the mayor of 
Qusra. "Too much pressure eventually causes an explosion."