US wants Netanyahu to condemn settler siege in Palestinian village, officials say

QUSRA, WEST BANK: The United States wants Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to publicly condemn a siege imposed by Jewish settlers in a Palestinian village, U.S. and Israeli officials said on Friday, as settlers pressured residents by pitching a new tent before Israeli soldiers arrived and it was taken down.

Settlers have been besieging homes in Qusra in the occupied West Bank for almost a week, trapping Palestinians in an area where rights groups say settlers are mounting a concerted effort to seize more land, further eating into territory where Palestinians aim to establish a state.

The siege has drawn public U.S. criticism: the U.S. Ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee — a strong supporter of Jewish settlement in the West Bank — on Thursday condemned settlers besieging a Palestinian home as “Israeli terrorists”.

A U.S. official and an Israeli official said on Friday White House officials are pressing Netanyahu to publicly condemn the siege.

Washington began to protest after learning that the home of a Palestinian-American was among those under siege, said the two officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe sensitive discussions, of which they had knowledge.

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Netanyahu has not commented on the siege in Qusra. Neither his office nor the White House immediately responded to requests for comment.

‘The settlers are still here’

Settler violence in the West Bank has risen during the three years.

Condemning settlers could be politically risky for Netanyahu some two months before an election, potentially upsetting settler voters upon whom parts of his right-wing coalition rely. Opinion polls show Netanyahu could lose power, his security credentials still shaken.

“We are very afraid,” said Aysha Hassan, a Palestinian woman who lives in one of three besieged homes in the village, speaking to Reuters by phone.

“There is nothing new. It’s been like this for six days…the settlers are still here.”

Hassan said she had seen settlers below the house in the early hours of the morning and shared videos with Reuters showing groups of settlers wandering underneath her home that she said she had taken from her window.

The United Nations has said some 15 Palestinians, including two children, were trapped inside their homes with no water or electricity.

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Footage shot by a Palestinian resident trapped in another of the besieged homes and obtained by Reuters showed seven settlers outside, standing near a blue tent. One is seen throwing stones toward the nearby village, as another arrives with chairs.

Israeli army vehicles and soldiers later arrive and the tent is seen collapsed on the ground.

“Israeli civilians erected a tent in the Qusra area, and IDF soldiers operated to remove it while protecting the local residents,” the Israeli military (IDF) said in a statement, a day after dozens of troops were sent into Qusra and occupied several village homes.

Netanyahu’s government, the most right-wing in Israeli history, has spearheaded a rapid expansion of settlements in the West Bank, territory captured by Israel in a 1967 war. Israel has established dozens of new settlements and settler outposts in the area.

Rights groups say that settlers have been trying to seize properties on the outskirts of Qusra and neighbouring Jalud as part of a strategy to seize the land between them and join it up with settler outposts to the south and larger settlements to the west.

Men in uniform prayed with settlers

The siege began at the weekend when settlers closed off the road to the three homes and set up a tent in their front yards, refusing to allow anyone to enter or leave. They had earlier cut off their electricity and water.

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The Israeli military has said soldiers have deployed in Qusra since Thursday morning to protect residents and maintain security.

Video from earlier in the week showed several Israeli men in green military garb joining the settlers in a morning prayer in the tent. The military said it was taking disciplinary action against any personnel involved.

The West Bank is home to some three million ⁠Palestinians and ​500,000 settlers. There are some 146 settlements in the West Bank, ​as well as 390 smaller outposts, according to the Israeli settlement watchdog group Peace Now.