Huckabee calls besieging settlers ‘Israeli terrorists’ as embassy intervenes
Israeli troops entered Qusra early Thursday, The Wall Street Journal reported, putting the Palestinian village near Nablus on lockdown as security forces moved to dismantle two illegal settler outposts and end a four-day siege of three Palestinian homes.
The standoff began Sunday, when a group of Israeli settlers set up encampments outside three houses on the outskirts of Qusra, a Palestinian village of about 5,000 people, and prevented anyone from entering or leaving, the Journal reported. The settlers blocked a nearby access road and cut off water and power to the homes, according to two people besieged there who spoke to the Journal.
Two Palestinian families were trapped inside the homes along with five Italian nationals who were visiting one of them, the Journal reported. Italy’s embassy in Israel did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
The United States became involved after at least one of the besieged homes was identified as American-owned. U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee said the embassy in Jerusalem had been “very involved” and that Israeli authorities were working to remove the settlers at the request of the United States.
“Actions by those who carried out this horrific act of terror meant to intimidate and harass this family are disgusting,” Huckabee said in a post on X.
The Israeli military said Thursday that security forces had dismantled two illegal outposts near the villages of Qusra and Jalud, both inside Area B, a portion of the West Bank under Palestinian administrative control where Israelis are not permitted to enter. The military said one Israeli was detained.
Israeli authorities clashed with the settlers several times as they tried to dismantle the outposts, the Journal reported. On Wednesday, the military deployed an additional infantry battalion — typically hundreds of troops — to patrol and protect the area.
By Thursday morning, residents of Qusra said Israeli soldiers had told them to leave their homes and had occupied several of them, including two of those that had been besieged. Israel’s military pushed back on the claims, saying soldiers were instructed that residents were to remain in their homes and would not operate inside a Palestinian house near the dismantled outpost.
The Wall Street Journal, in reporting on the confrontation, characterized it as exposing “a deepening dilemma in the West Bank, where emboldened Israeli settlers are testing the boundaries of a government that has shown them unprecedented support and has rarely punished them for overstepping the law.”