Huckabee calls Israeli settlers ‘terrorists’: Can US push end Qusra siege?
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The United States ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, has condemned settlers who are holding three families in the occupied West Bank village of Qusra, near Nablus, under siege, as “Israeli terrorists”.
The siege comes as Israel’s military conducts raids in Jenin, blocking access to aid for Palestinians in the refugee camp on the fourth day of its assault.
So what did Huckabee say about settler violence in the West Bank and how significant is this?
Huckabee, a staunch ally of Israel who has voiced support for Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, despite them being illegal under international law, made the unusually critical comments on Thursday, as Israeli settlers besieged three Palestinian homes in the village of Qusra, including one belonging to a dual US citizen.
“Actions by those who carried out this horrific act of terror meant to intimidate and harass this family are disgusting,” Huckabee wrote in a post on X. “No excuse for such thuggish behaviour.”
He added that the US embassy has been “VERY involved & the IDF & Israel Police have gone at our request to remove the Israeli terrorists doing this”.
Huckabee posted a video of a convoy of Israeli military and police vehicles, saying they were removing “illegal trespassers there to intimidate Palestinian residents”.
US officials have long condemned settler violence towards Palestinians in the occupied West Bank in general terms but they have not deemed Israeli settlers’ actions “terror” or referred to them as “terrorists”.
Huckabee’s choice of words is one of the strongest public rebukes a US ambassador to Israel has issued over settler attacks.
Palestinian residents of the village say they have been cut off from water, electricity and other critical supplies during the siege, which they describe as an attempt by the settlers to seize their land.
Loai Ridi, an American-Palestinian who lives in Toledo, US, but owns a house in the village, said his brother Qusai Abu Rida and 18-year-old nephew, Ahmed, were among those trapped.
“He [Qusai Abu Rida] does not want to leave the home. Because if he leaves the home, the settlers will take over immediately,” he said.
The family is relying on a temporary solar power system and leftover well water from the winter after supply lines were cut.
The United Nations human rights agency and the Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates also condemned the settler siege in Qusra on Thursday.
“These criminal actions by the settlers, supported or acquiesced to by Israel, the Occupying Power, are making life unbearable for these Palestinian families and are clearly aimed at forcing them to leave their homes and their land,” the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said.
The three families – comprising 15 people, including two children – have been confined to their homes with their water and power cut off since Sunday, the agency reported.
“Time is running out for these three families before they are forcibly displaced,” it warned.
Al Jazeera’s Nida Ibrahim, reporting from the scene of the siege on Thursday, said Israeli soldiers initially tried to move the trapped families out of their homes while settlers remained camped outside.
The families refused, not trusting that the Israeli soldiers would allow them back into their homes, and were eventually grouped together in one of the homes. Residents have watched settlers push families out and then take over their properties in the past, she reported.
Qusra has faced settler attacks for decades, Ibrahim explained, and residents tie the rise in violence to the spread of illegal settlements and the lack of accountability for attackers.
According to Israeli media, the authorities are trying to manage the siege by removing the settlers from the area, with limited success.
The Times of Israel reported that Israeli forces and police attempted to “evacuate the settlers” early on Thursday after a previous failed effort the day before. The settlers, who have used rocks and tents to block off the Palestinian homes, were still in the area on Thursday.
But while Huckabee posted a video of Israeli forces arriving to deal with the settlers to show that action is being taken, Palestinians remain sceptical.
However, Ibrahim said most Palestinians believe the Israeli army is “staging its response to the settler siege for the cameras”, and they expect the settlers will eventually return, even if they are removed now.
Abdel Azim Wadi, the mayor of Qusra, told Al Jazeera that the Israeli army has been protecting and helping the settlers. “We saw them praying together, barbecuing together and dancing together,” he said. “They are not very interested in helping the besieged families.”
Historically, the Israeli government has openly funded and built settlements for Jews to live there.
Over the past few years, the Israeli army has been operating a hotline it calls War Room C, for settlers to call and report Palestinian construction in Area C, the 60 percent of the West Bank which is fully under Israeli military and civil control.
Several Israeli laws enable settlers to seize…
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