Israeli settlers have besieged Palestinian homes in the West Bank village of Qusra since Sunday. Danish broadcaster DR reports that soldiers sent to remove them have in some cases joined the settlers instead.
In an analysis published Friday by DR, the broadcaster describes two images from Qusra, south of Nablus. In one, Israeli soldiers fire tear gas at settlers refusing to lift their blockade of the village. In the other, uniformed soldiers take part in morning prayers with the same settlers in a tent that formed part of the siege.
According to DR, that contradiction explains much of the disorder now unfolding in the occupied territories. The broadcaster notes that 1,100 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank since 2020, and that only one case has led to an Israeli suspect being charged.
Reuters reported on August 13 that settlers began besieging three Palestinian homes in Qusra on Sunday. They blocked the access road and pitched a tent at the gates, preventing anyone from entering or leaving. Surveillance footage cited by DR shows settlers tearing down a wall outside the Abu Ridi family home and using the stones to block the road.
The United Nations human rights office says 15 Palestinians, including two children, from three families have been confined in their homes since Sunday with water and power cut off. As reported by Al Jazeera, the Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has issued a separate statement condemning the siege and calling for international action.
The Israeli military says it declared the area a closed military zone, removed the settlers’ tent and sent an additional infantry battalion to strengthen order and operational control. Al-Monitor reports that the settlers returned after troops withdrew, and that the blockade has continued.
Settlers in army uniforms
DR writes that Israel enrolled around 5,500 settlers in regional defense battalions in the West Bank after the Hamas attacks of October 7, 2023, when soldiers were moved to Gaza. They were issued army uniforms, weapons and vehicles, blurring the line between state forces and militant settlers. According to DR, this has produced an internal conflict inside the army between regular units and settlers in uniform.
The government includes two settler parties. National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who has responsibility for the West Bank, is himself a settler who supports annexation, DR notes.
Per DR’s analysis, militant settlers are testing the limits of what they can do two months before Israel’s parliamentary election in late October, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government under pressure on the right. The Associated Press reports that a U.S. ambassador called the siege an act of terror, and Reuters notes that Washington wants Netanyahu to condemn it publicly.
