Newsletters
A Palestinian American who returned from the U.S. to protect his family property in the occupied West Bank confronted an Israeli illegal settler on his land Tuesday, as three Palestinian homes in the village of Qusra remained surrounded by illegal settlers for more than a week, Reuters reported.
Loui Ridi arrived in Qusra late Monday after traveling from the U.S., fearing he could lose his property to illegal settlers. He raised a large American flag over his home in hopes that it might deter further encroachment.
Ridi, who grew up in the village, was walking among cherry and fig trees Tuesday morning when an illegal settler approached from a nearby hill and entered his land, according to a Reuters reporter who witnessed and filmed the encounter.
“You came to make a mess, ha?” the illegal settler said in Hebrew while holding what appeared to be a Torah in one hand and filming Ridi with a mobile phone.
“You are a terrorist settler, you know that?” Ridi replied while also recording the confrontation.
An Israeli military vehicle passed the area several times before soldiers approached and spoke with the illegal settler, telling him that the location was a closed military area.
“I’ll leave if they leave. There are a lot of guys here. We’re all just guarding our territory. If they go inside the house, we’ll leave,” the illegal settler told the soldiers.
The illegal settler eventually moved back up the road, where he was joined by two others. He did not respond when Reuters asked what he was doing there, and the group later walked up the hill and disappeared from view.
An Israeli soldier then instructed Ridi to remain inside his home.
“Just be inside, they go and you’ll be inside. Don’t talk to each other, ok? I’ll solve this problem,” the soldier told him.
Ridi told the soldiers that the illegal settler’s presence on his property was illegal and that he should be arrested.
The Israeli military has said it deployed forces to the area in an effort to restrain illegal settlers and maintain security for residents.
With illegal settlers remaining nearby and residents afraid to leave their homes, Ridi said he raised an American flag above his property as a form of protection.
“I decided I want to raise this flag,” he told Reuters.
“If, God forbid, I’m unable to protect this house and the illegal settlers end up here, they’re going to raise their flag. But before they raise their flag, they have to move the American flag, and that’s the message.”
Rights groups say rising illegal settler activity in the West Bank is part of a broader effort to seize Palestinian land in territory where Palestinians seek to establish a future state.
Violence by Israeli illegal settlers in the occupied West Bank has increased, while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing government has pursued a major expansion of illegal settlements.
One of Ridi’s neighbors, Ibrahim Hassan, told Reuters he was forced to flee his home last month after illegal settlers accompanied by men wearing green military clothing smashed his windows, entered the property and beat him.
Unlike Ridi, Hassan does not hold U.S. citizenship, as is the case for the vast majority of Palestinians.
The siege around the three homes in Qusra has already drawn criticism from U.S. officials.
U.S. officials estimate that tens of thousands of American citizens live in the occupied West Bank, including many in villages between Ramallah and Nablus, where Qusra is located.
In Turmus Ayya, about 7 kilometers, or 4.3 miles, southwest of Qusra, local officials say roughly 80% of the population holds U.S. citizenship.
Yaser Alkam, 58, a spokesperson for the village’s Palestinian American community, said residents display American flags for several reasons.
“It’s a form of security, a form of protection. It provides deterrence not only to the settlers but also to the IDF,” Alkam told Reuters.
He said the flags also send a message directly to the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump.
“Here’s an American citizen being attacked in the West Bank by an American tax-funded army, American weapons used to attack Palestinian Americans in the West Bank,” Alkam said.
U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, who has been a strong supporter of Israeli illegal settlements in the West Bank, condemned the illegal settlers surrounding Ridi’s home on Thursday, describing them as “Israeli terrorists.”
A U.S. official and an Israeli official told Reuters on Friday that White House officials were pressing Netanyahu to publicly condemn the illegal settlers’ actions in Qusra.
Netanyahu has not commented on the siege.
Set as preferred source
Set as preferred source
1 min read
1 min read
