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

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.”

Zain Jaafar/AFP/Getty Images

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.”

By Friday morning, videos shared with CNN showed settlers rebuilding their tent outside the besieged homes. Israeli soldiers then arrived in two vehicles and tore it down, but left the blue tarp canopy neatly folded on the ground rather than confiscating it.

Close to 100 human rights activists marched to Qusra in solidarity, bringing extra food and water for the Palestinian families. Photos sent to CNN by the activists showed soldiers blocking their way, with the supplies laid out in front of the homes. They were later transferred to the trapped residents by Ofer Cassif, a left-wing Israeli member of parliament, who managed to get past the solders and up to the house. But the families remain besieged, unable to come and go without fear.

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.

Issam Rimawi/Anadolu/Getty Images

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.”

路易·里迪开始在他位于被占领的约旦河西岸的家乡库斯拉为他的两个女儿建造房屋。女儿们在俄亥俄州长大，但家庭旅行让她们爱上了父亲的巴勒斯坦故土。

据 CNN 报道，里迪说，他的女儿们曾问他：“我们能不能在奶奶住的地方，在你出生和长大的地方，买一套房子？”

如今，这个梦想暂时搁置了，因为一群以色列定居者围攻了里迪和另外两户人家所在的山顶，企图将巴勒斯坦居民赶走。

定居者搭起帐篷，切断水电线路，封锁道路，阻止任何人接近居民。

被困在里面的是里迪的兄弟库赛和库赛的儿子，他们只有够吃两三天的食物。

“他们盯上了那栋房子和这座山顶；他们想要占领它，”库赛说。

“我们绝不投降，绝不离开，即使我们只能在这所房子里喝盐和水，即使连一块面包都不剩。”

Zain Jaafar/AFP/Getty Images

里迪在俄亥俄州通过监控摄像头惊恐地目睹了这一切，并开始联系负责西岸这一地区安全的以色列当局。

令他难以置信的是，以色列士兵来了，热情地迎接了定居者，然后和他们一起祈祷。

周三，以色列士兵和边防警察抵达山顶，拆除了定居者的帐篷，并开始试图将定居者从该地区驱逐出去。

但这一努力失败了。数十名定居者抵达，他们将巨石搬到路上，并向安全部队投掷石块。安全部队则发射了声波弹，并向定居者喷洒了胡椒喷雾，之后撤离。

几个小时后，我们到达了现场，开车上山前往里迪的家，途中被两名以色列士兵拦下，他们两侧还有六名以色列定居者。

“这是封闭的军事区域，”一名士兵告诉我们。“你们正在干扰军事活动。”

该命令也适用于定居者，但迄今为止，它只对试图登上山顶的巴勒斯坦人、以色列人权活动家和记者执行过。

由于无法到达他家，我们只能在山脚下通过视频通话与库赛交谈。

“他们是怪物，所以我不认为他们会轻易离开，”库赛谈到这些定居者时说道。

周四上午，以色列军方发起了一场更有力的行动，部署了一个步兵营“以保护居民并维护该地区的安全”。

军方采取的首批行动之一，就是将该地区十几户巴勒斯坦家庭赶出家园，其中包括库赛，他只好搬去和邻居同住。士兵们声称，他们需要将这些房屋用作临时基地，以便对定居者采取行动。

“我希望这不会是一个阴谋，最终导致士兵们在我家安置移民，”库赛告诉 CNN。

几个小时后，随着消息的传播，军方改变了主意，表示：“士兵们接到指示，库斯拉居民将留在自己的家中。”

周五早上，CNN获得的视频显示，定居者们正在被围困的房屋外重建帐篷。随后，以色列士兵乘两辆车抵达现场，拆除了帐篷，但并未没收蓝色防水布，而是将其整齐地折叠放在地上。

近百名维权人士游行至库斯拉，声援巴勒斯坦家庭，并为他们送去额外的食物和水。维权人士发给CNN的照片显示，士兵们挡住了他们的去路，物资被摆放在房屋前。随后，以色列左翼议员奥弗·卡西夫突破士兵的阻拦，将物资送到被困居民手中。但这些家庭仍然被围困，无法自由出入，生怕受到惊吓。

库斯拉发生的事情并非孤立事件。库赛和其他居住在被围困山顶上的人们有充分的理由担心，如果他们离开，将永远无法返回家园。

上个月，同一群包围了那座山顶的定居者，在邻近的村庄对另一个巴勒斯坦家庭也做了同样的事情。而且，他们得逞了。

在长达两周的时间里，他们包围了马哈茂德·图巴西位于贾卢德的家，最终迫使他和家人离开。CNN记者走访了图巴西的住所，目睹了定居者进出房屋，并站在屋顶上，屋顶上插着一面弥赛亚旗帜。

这面旗帜被定居者挥舞，并经常飘扬在被占领的巴勒斯坦土地上。它象征着对这片土地的宗教民族主义主张，极端定居者将其视为神圣旨意的犹太人回归的一部分。

图巴西的邻居们说，这些定居者也威胁过他们，告诉他们下一个就是他们。

伊萨姆·里马维/阿纳多卢/盖蒂图片社

西岸的巴勒斯坦人表示，自 2023 年 10 月哈马斯袭击以色列以来，他们一直面临着集体惩罚——定居者袭击、被迫流离失所和以色列军事入侵的急剧增加。

据联合国统计，仅今年一年，就有超过 3200 名巴勒斯坦人在约旦河西岸因定居者袭击和拆迁而流离失所。

此事发生的背景是以色列部长和政府官员发表极端言论，他们公开表示，他们的目标是吞并西岸并将巴勒斯坦人驱逐出整个地区。

以色列政府上个月批准了一项计划，拟拨款近8亿美元在西岸建立新的犹太人定居点并修建道路。此外，以色列政府还批准了数十个非法的以色列定居点。

里迪担心以色列当局做得不够。

作为一名巴勒斯坦裔美国人，他恳求美国驻耶路撒冷大使馆帮助他保护自己的家园，但大使馆却让他联系以色列当局。

在围困里迪家五天后，美国驻以色列大使迈克·赫卡比（Mike Huckabee）谴责以色列定居者的行为是“旨在恐吓和骚扰的可怕恐怖主义行为”，并表示大使馆“非常积极地参与其中”。赫卡比是坚定的以色列支持者，自称是“毫不掩饰的”基督教锡安主义者。

“情况必须改变。我们所要求的只是——我们需要和平、有尊严地生活，”路易说。“住在自己的家里，而不是有人像怪物一样守在你家门口等着袭击你。”