Without water, light, and food: the brutal siege of the settlers leaves Palestinian families surrounded in the West Bank

BarcelonaSeveral Palestinian families from Qusra, in the north of the West Bank, have been trapped in their homes for days, besieged by Israeli settlers who have blocked access to the homes and cut off their water and electricity supplies. The Israeli army has reinforced its deployment in the town and initially ordered the evacuation of about fifteen homes, in an operation that comes amid a full escalation of settler violence in the West Bank. The evacuation order, however, was withdrawn shortly after, and the army assured that residents can stay in their homes.

The situation in Qusra began to escalate over the weekend, when a group of settlers blocked road access to several Palestinian homes, set up a tent in front of them, and prevented residents from entering or leaving their homes normally. According to local residents, the settlers had also previously cut off the water and electricity supply.

Yesterday, Israeli army and Israeli Border Police forces entered the village before dawn with the aim of evacuating the settlers who were besieging the homes. A first attempt, carried out on Wednesday, had failed. According to Israeli authorities, the operation aims to dismantle several Israeli settlements located around Qusra, settlements that are considered illegal under international law.

In this context, the army is expected to maintain the operation for several days, and some residents have explained that the military informed them that the operation could last three days, according to the Israeli press.

The Qusra crisis has led the Israeli Defense Minister, Israel Katz, to order the army to draw up a plan to transfer to the police the powers of civil law enforcement over Israeli citizens who commit crimes in the West Bank. According to a ministry statement, Katz is studying the measure in response to the "extremist disturbances" recorded in Qusra. The plan would provide for the police to prepare and deploy a specific unit to act on civil matters in the West Bank, with the powers and resources necessary to act against Israeli citizens who commit crimes in the West Bank.

It is not clear, however, what impact the measure would have on the ground. It is also considered unlikely that Katz can execute an institutional change of this magnitude before the next elections in Israel, scheduled for October 27. The proposal, moreover, raises important legal questions, as Israel has not formally annexed the West Bank and has no civil authority in the territory.

Escalation of violence in the West Bank

The case has provoked an immediate response from human rights groups and Israeli organizations. Today, nearly a hundred activists tried to reach the Palestinian families to bring them water and food, but the Israeli Border Police prevented them from accessing, alleging that the area was under a military closure order. Shortly after, the officers delivered the food to the families.

The participating organizations, Looking the Occupation in the Eye, Peace Now, Partnership for Peace, Standing Together, Tandi, the Israeli-Palestinian Bereaved Families Forum, and Rabbis for Human Rights, denounce that the Qusra case exemplifies a broader situation in the West Bank, where settler violence is spreading at an alarming rate. "The Qusra case is a clear example of a much larger story unfolding in the West Bank: armed criminals spread fear, violence, and destruction, while Israeli security forces fail to put an end to it," they stated in a press release.

The situation has also caused unease in Washington. The United States ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, has called the settlers who harass Palestinian families "terrorists" and, according to American and Israeli sources cited by Reuters, Donald Trump's administration wants Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to publicly condemn the siege. American pressure has intensified after Washington learned that a Palestinian-American citizen was among the besieged families. Netanyahu, however, has not yet made any public statement on the events.

The events of these days in Qusra are part of an escalation of violence that in recent weeks has affected numerous Palestinian communities in the West Bank. One of the episodes that preceded this new wave of attacks was a shooting in the village of Tell, southwest of Nablus, in which at least four Palestinians and two Israeli soldiers died. After the incident, several Palestinian communities in the north and center of the West Bank suffered attacks by Israeli settlers.