Israeli Settlers Besiege Palestinian Homes in West Bank Village of Qusra; Military Sends More Troops
The Facts
- Israeli settlers set up a tent outside Palestinian homes in the village of Qusra, near Nablus, on Sunday.
- The Abu Ridi and Hassan families have been trapped inside their homes on the village outskirts since then.
- The families say their water and electricity were cut off and their food supplies ran low.
- Israeli troops clashed with the settlers on Wednesday and then withdrew without clearing the outpost.
- Israeli border police removed the settlers' tent on Wednesday morning, and the military declared the area a closed military zone.
- The first soldiers to arrive at the scene were filmed praying with the settlers.
- The military said it was taking disciplinary measures against those soldiers.
- Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir ordered an additional infantry battalion sent to the sector.
- U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee called the siege a "horrific act of terror."
- One of the besieged homes belongs to an American Palestinian family with U.S. citizenship.
- The Palestinian residents say the siege is intended to force them off their land.
- The case has drawn attention to rising settler violence and limited enforcement against settlers in the West Bank.
Context
Who is inside the besieged homes?
The Abu Ridi and Hassan families live on the outskirts of Qusra BBC. Yousef Hassan was trapped with his wife and two young daughters, according to The Guardian Guardian; German reports said the family included children aged four and 10 kleinezeitung.at. The owner of one home, Lou Ridi, told The Associated Press by phone from Ohio that his 48-year-old brother and nephew were inside U.S. News & World R…. Qusai Abu Rida, trapped in one of the houses, said no food or medicine had reached them and that he had electricity only from solar panels Dawn.
What has the Israeli military said and done?
The military condemned the settlers' actions, declared the area a closed military zone and removed their tent on Wednesday morning, but a photographer at the scene said settlers were back by mid-afternoon Dawn Yahoo News. It said it was working to push the settlers out, ordered an additional infantry battalion into the sector and announced disciplinary steps against soldiers filmed praying with the settlers T-online.de U.S. News & World R…. Reuters reported the military later said it had dismantled two illegal outposts nearby and detained one Israeli India Today.
Has Qusra seen settler violence before?
The Guardian reported that the settlers gathered metres from where 28-year-old Amir Moatasem Odeh was killed by a settler in March and his father was stabbed, with no arrests made Guardian. A Reuters photograph from July 26 showed a mosque in Qusra that Palestinians say was damaged by settlers Yahoo News. Reuters described the Wednesday confrontation as a rare clash between settlers and the military, coming amid an increase in settler land seizures and attacks on Palestinians Yahoo News U.S. News & World R….
Where Left and Right agree, and where they split
- Where Left and Right agree
- Two families left days without water, electricity or adequate food, troops who withdrew without clearing the outpost, and soldiers filmed praying with settlers — failures neither framing excuses.
- Where Left and Right split
- Whether the story is about two families the state left unprotected, or about soldiers deferring to the people they encountered instead of the chain of command.
How left and right read it
Protection that depends on which soldiers happen to show up is not protection. Two families have gone days without water or electricity, with food running low, because the troops who came clashed with the settlers and then left without clearing the outpost — and the first to arrive were filmed praying with them. Discipline and an added battalion cannot substitute for the plain duty to keep these families safe.
“The army's initial retreat and broader struggle to contend with settler violence cast a spotlight on the increasingly chaotic situation in the West Bank, where hundreds of Israeli settlers have been terrorizing Palestinians with near-impunity all year.” — The New York Times
An army's authority rests on its soldiers answering the chain of command, not the people they encounter on the ground — which is why the first troops filmed praying with the settlers matters more than the tent itself. Discipline is not optics. The military moved to punish those soldiers, declared the area a closed military zone, and Eyal Zamir ordered an additional infantry battalion in, yet troops withdrew Wednesday without clearing the outpost. Finish what the order started.
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