Amid ongoing aggression by hardline Jewish settlers in the village of Qusra in the occupied West Bank, the attention has shifted to one of the Palestinian homeowners, an Ohio-based businessman named Loui Ridi. Ridi returned to Qusra to defend his home, where settlers had surrounded it and two neighboring homes, leaving his family in need of supplies. The settlers’ actions are part of a pattern of violence intended to displace Palestinians from their land.
Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank are internationally recognized as illegal, with their expansion accelerated under the current government led by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The surge in settler violence has caused an average of about six incidents per day this year, the highest on record, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
Ridi, seeking assistance from the U.S. Embassy, raised an American flag on his property upon his return to Qusra. The situation prompted a condemnation from the U.S. Ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, who referred to the responsible individuals as “Israeli terrorists.” However, Huckabee, a staunch supporter of Israel’s settlement policy, downplayed the violence as the actions of a small minority.
The ongoing conflict in Qusra has highlighted the blurred line between soldiers and settlers in the West Bank, with IDF units sometimes including ideological settlers. Despite efforts by the IDF to restore order and remove the blockading settlers, the situation has fueled Palestinian beliefs that the IDF supports Israel’s settlement expansion.
The violence in Qusra is part of a broader trend targeting the outskirts of Palestinian communities, aiming to confine Palestinians to smaller areas and facilitate the connection of settlement blocs. This strategy is not unique to Qusra but is occurring in numerous Palestinian villages across the West Bank. Moreover, international condemnation has been directed at Israel’s plans for a new settlement outside occupied East Jerusalem, known as E1, which has been criticized for undermining the potential for a two-state solution.
