Trapped and cut off: Palestinian families under settler siege in the West Bank

By Zeena Saifi, Jeremy Diamond, Cyril Theophilos, CNN

Qusra, West Bank (CNN) — Loui Ridi began building a home in his native town of Qusra, in the occupied West Bank, for his two daughters. The girls grew up in Ohio, but family trips made them fall in love with their father’s Palestinian roots.

“Can we have a home where grandmother lives, where you were born and raised?” his daughters had asked him, Ridi told CNN.

That dream is now on hold as a group of Israeli settlers lay siege to the hilltop where Ridi’s and two other homes sit in a bid to kick out the Palestinian residents.

The settlers pitched a tent, cut off water and electricity lines and blocked roads, preventing anyone from reaching the residents.

Trapped inside are Ridi’s brother, Qusai, and Qusai’s son, with only enough food to last two or three more days.

“They have their eyes set on the house and on this hilltop; they want to take it,” Qusai said.

“We will not surrender and we will not leave, even if we have to drink salt and water in this house and if there’s not a single piece of bread left.”

Ridi watched in horror from Ohio on security cameras and began contacting the Israeli authorities, which are responsible for security in this part of the West Bank.

And then, to his disbelief, Israeli soldiers arrived, warmly greeted the settlers and then joined them in prayer.

Israeli soldiers and border police arrived at the hilltop on Wednesday, dismantled the settlers’ tent and began trying to remove the settlers from the area.

But that effort failed. Dozens of additional settlers arrived, moving boulders into the road and throwing rocks at the security forces, who were seen firing sound grenades and spraying settlers with pepper spray before withdrawing.

We arrived at the scene hours later, driving up the hill to Ridi’s house before being stopped by two Israeli soldiers, flanked by a half-dozen Israeli settlers.

“This is a closed military area,” one of the soldiers told us. “You’re interfering with military activity.”

That order also applies to the settlers, but so far it has only been enforced against Palestinians, Israeli human rights activists and journalists who have tried to reach the hilltop.

Unable to reach the home, we spoke to Qusai via video call from the bottom of the hill.

“They are monstruous, so I don’t expect them to leave so easily,” Qusai said of the settlers.

The Israeli military launched a more forceful operation on Thursday morning, deploying an infantry battalion “to protect the residents and maintain security in the area.”

One of the military’s first moves: kicking more than a dozen Palestinian families in the area out of their homes, including Qusai, who moved in with his neighbor. The soldiers said they needed to use their homes as temporary bases to operate against the settlers.

“I hope this is not a ploy that will eventually lead to the soldiers installing settlers in my home,” Qusai told CNN.

Hours later, as news spread, the military reversed course, saying: “The soldiers were instructed that the Qusra residents will remain in their homes.”

Settlers’ strategy

What’s happening in Qusra isn’t an isolated incident. And Qusai and the others living on the besieged hilltop have good reason to fear they will never be allowed back into their homes if they leave.

The same group of settlers who have surrounded that hilltop did the same to another Palestinian family in a neighboring village last month. And there, they were successful.

For over two weeks, they surrounded Mahmoud Tubasi’s home in Jalud, eventually forcing him and his family to leave. CNN visited the home and witnessed settlers going in and out of the home, standing on the rooftop where a messianic flag had been planted.

The flag is brandished by settlers and frequently flown atop seized Palestinian property. It symbolizes a religious-nationalist claim to the land, viewed by extremist settlers as part of a divinely ordained Jewish return.

Tubasi’s neighbors said the settlers have threatened them as well, telling them they are next.

Palestinians in the West Bank say they’ve faced what amounts to collective punishment since the Hamas attack on Israel in October 2023 – a sharp rise in settler attacks, forced displacement, and Israeli military incursions.

This year alone, over 3,200 Palestinians have been displaced across the West Bank by settler attacks and demolitions, according to the United Nations.

It has occurred against the backdrop of extremist rhetoric by Israeli ministers and government officials who have openly said their goal is to annex the West Bank and drive Palestinians out of the entire land.

The Israeli government last month approved plans to allocate close to $800 million to establish new Jewish settlements and build access roads in the West Bank. And dozens of illegal Israeli settler outposts have been rubber stamped by the Israeli government.

Ridi fears the Israeli authorities aren’t doing enough.

As a Palestinian-American, he pleaded to the US Embassy in Jerusalem to help him protect his home, which told him to reach out to Israeli authorities.

Five days after the siege on Ridi’s home began, US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, a staunch supporter of Israel who has called himself an “unapologetic” Christian Zionist, condemned the Israeli settlers’ actions as a “horrific act of terror meant to intimidate and harass” and said the embassy has been “VERY involved.”

“Things have to change. All we are asking – we need to live in peace and dignity,” Loui said. “Living in your own home, without someone being in front of your house like a monster waiting to attack you.”

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