Qusra: A West Bank Settlement Outpost Sparks Confrontation Between the Israeli Army and Settlers
In Qusra, the confrontation between settlers and the Israeli army appears to have evolved into a direct test of Tel Aviv’s willingness to seriously control settlement outposts established immediately outside Palestinian homes.
After several days of a siege, and after soldiers were filmed praying alongside settlers at the site, the army announced that it had begun evacuating the outpost. It also acknowledged that disciplinary proceedings had been initiated against the military unit that appeared in the recordings.
However, the evacuation itself was not without controversy. Reports indicated that the disclosure of the operation’s timing allowed dozens of settlers to reach the site and obstruct the evacuation, while clashes broke out and roads leading to the homes were blocked.
What happened in Qusra?
The Israeli army confirmed that it had begun evacuating a settlement outpost established at the entrance to Palestinian homes in a village in the West Bank.
The Israeli army also said that the soldiers filmed this week arriving at the building erected by settlers in the village of Qusra and praying with them, rather than removing them, would face disciplinary measures.
Senior military officials, including Central Command chief Major General Avi Bluth, also met on Wednesday with the Palestinian family that had been besieged by settlers in Qusra for several days.
According to the Israeli army, the settlement outpost was established near Palestinian homes in Area B of the West Bank, and an order was issued to close the area and declare it a military zone.
The army said: “Border Police forces evacuated the shelter and are working to remove the civilians who had been staying there. The incident is still ongoing at this time, and security forces are present on the ground.”
Bluth, the head of the West Bank Division, Brigadier General Kobi Heller, and the commander of the West Bank Border Police Division, Deputy Commissioner Nisso Guetta, toured several nearby outposts this morning.
The army said that “during the tour, the commanders took seriously the actions carried out by Israeli civilians against the Palestinian family and ordered a number of steps to be taken,” without providing further details.
It added: “It was also decided to take disciplinary action against the unit involved, whose presence at the site had been documented several days ago,” referring to footage showing soldiers arriving alongside the settlers.
According to The Times of Israel, the operation to evacuate a settlement outpost located near two Palestinian homes on the outskirts of the Palestinian village of Qusra was leaked to the media before it was carried out.
Hebrew-language media reported that the Israeli army and Border Police dismantled the outpost and removed settler activists from the area.
But about an hour later, the army began demolishing the site. Clashes are still continuing in the area, with video footage showing settlers blocking the road leading to Qusra’s homes with stones.
Army Radio quoted a security source as saying that “the evacuation of the Qusra outpost was leaked to the media before the site was actually evacuated.”
The source said: “This gave dozens of Jewish rioters enough time to reach the site before the forces could evacuate the settlement outpost. The village is now witnessing mass rioting by dozens of settlers.”
On Tuesday, the Israeli army condemned the establishment in recent days of “illegal, condemnable and unacceptable” settlement outposts inside Palestinian villages in the West Bank.
On the outskirts of Qusra, south of Nablus, a Palestinian family has been prevented from entering or leaving its home since Sunday because settlers were present outside. Video footage recorded on Sunday documented soldiers arriving at the building erected by the settlers and praying with them.
Escalation of settler violence
On Tuesday evening, an ambulance belonging to the Palestinian Red Crescent arrived at the site and evacuated a girl whose family wanted to take her for medical treatment. It also delivered some food supplies to the two families still trapped there.
Last month, settlers surrounded a home in the nearby village of Jalud for more than two weeks, before the family living there fled, allowing the settlers to seize the property. The settlers remain in the house to this day, while its owners have been unable to return.
In a statement, the Israeli army said: “In recent weeks, several reports have been received of Israeli civilians entering and taking over Palestinian homes and land in the Qusra and Jalud areas. This activity is illegal, condemnable and unacceptable, harms the residents of both areas, and disrupts their daily lives.”
The army announced that following these incidents, “and in light of reports of disturbances, an order was issued to close the area militarily to anyone who is not a resident.”
The army also said that it “strongly condemns such incidents,” adding that “if reserve soldiers or active-duty personnel are found to have been involved in such incidents, they will face disciplinary proceedings.”
Settler violence aggravates displacement
In June, Stéphane Dujarric, spokesperson for the UN Secretary-General, said, citing the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), that more than 2,200 Palestinians had been displaced since the beginning of the year due to settler violence or restrictions on access. Hundreds more had been displaced as a result of home demolitions carried out by the Israeli authorities.
Settler violence has intensified in recent years, with attacks occurring almost daily across the West Bank, some of them deadly, while only a limited number of suspects have been arrested or charged. Critics accuse the Israeli government of turning a blind eye to these attacks, and even of encouraging them.
The number of serious incidents classified as “nationalist crimes” committed by extremist Jewish settlers in the West Bank increased by 63% during the first half of this year compared with the same period last year, rising from 405 attacks to 660, according to a report by the public broadcaster Kan on Monday, citing security-service data.
Israeli security services classify these crimes as acts of terrorism.
The number of Palestinian victims of settler violence also rose sharply: 140 Palestinians were injured and 6 were killed during the first half of the year, compared with 82 Palestinians injured and no fatalities recorded during the same period last year.
