2 months ago
By Alexander Cornwell
JERUSALEM, Aug 20 (Reuters) - U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee has warned militant Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank not to steal property owned by Palestinian Americans, describing such behavior as "a violation of God's law".
Huckabee, a Baptist minister and longtime supporter of Israel's settlements, told Reuters in an interview that settlers found to have taken part in a siege of homes in the West Bank village of Qusra, including one belonging to Palestinian American Loui Ridi, could be punished with U.S. sanctions.
Israeli settlers began encircling homes in Qusra on August 9, in what rights groups said was an attempt to seize privately owned Palestinian land. The case has drawn international condemnation.
Israel's military has deployed dozens of troops to the area and has since pushed the settlers back from the homes. But they remain nearby and residents including Ridi say they fear the settlers will encroach on their properties again once those troops pull back.
#homes
JERUSALEM, Aug 20 (Reuters) - U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee has warned militant Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank not to steal property owned by Palestinian Americans, describing such behavior as "a violation of God's law".
Huckabee, a Baptist minister and longtime supporter of Israel's settlements, told Reuters in an interview that settlers found to have taken part in a siege of homes in the West Bank village of Qusra, including one belonging to Palestinian American Loui Ridi, could be punished with U.S. sanctions.
Israeli settlers began encircling homes in Qusra on August 9, in what rights groups said was an attempt to seize privately owned Palestinian land. The case has drawn international condemnation.
Israel's military has deployed dozens of troops to the area and has since pushed the settlers back from the homes. But they remain nearby and residents including Ridi say they fear the settlers will encroach on their properties again once those troops pull back.
#homes
2 months ago
(Corrects paragraph 4 to show the Israeli settler appeared to be holding a code book of Jewish law, not a Torah)
By Pesha Magid, Ammar Awad and Sinan Abu Mayzer
QUSRA, West Bank, Aug 18 (Reuters) - Palestinian American Loui Ridi raised a giant American flag over his West Bank home, hoping it might deter militant settlers besieging the property. But it wasn't enough to stop one of them from walking onto Ridi's land on Tuesday, during a tense face-off.
Ridi arrived in Qusra late on Monday after traveling from the U.S., fearing he could lose the property to Jewish settlers who have encircled three Palestinian homes in the village for more than a week, prompting U.S. condemnation.
Ridi, who grew up in the village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, was taking a morning walk among his cherry and fig trees on Tuesday when a settler approached from the hill above, in an encounter filmed by Reuters, the only media outlet present.
#jewish #american
By Pesha Magid, Ammar Awad and Sinan Abu Mayzer
QUSRA, West Bank, Aug 18 (Reuters) - Palestinian American Loui Ridi raised a giant American flag over his West Bank home, hoping it might deter militant settlers besieging the property. But it wasn't enough to stop one of them from walking onto Ridi's land on Tuesday, during a tense face-off.
Ridi arrived in Qusra late on Monday after traveling from the U.S., fearing he could lose the property to Jewish settlers who have encircled three Palestinian homes in the village for more than a week, prompting U.S. condemnation.
Ridi, who grew up in the village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, was taking a morning walk among his cherry and fig trees on Tuesday when a settler approached from the hill above, in an encounter filmed by Reuters, the only media outlet present.
#jewish #american
2 months ago
Palestinians in the occupied West Bank village of Qusra have huddled inside their homes for days on end, unable to leave because of the threat posed by Israeli settlers.
The Israeli military, which over the past three years has displayed staggering military and intelligence capabilities from Beirut to Tehran, has yet to fully remove the settlers from the area of the village, about an hour's drive from Tel Aviv.
The United States, which provides billions of dollars in military aid to Israel, has issued a scathing rebuke, perhaps because one of the homeowners is a Palestinian American living in Ohio.
U.S. Ambassador Mike Huckabee referred to the settlers as "terrorists." Israel's defense minister dismissed them as radical misfits — "boys on the hills."
In reality, they are the tip of the spear for a much larger movement, supported by successive Israeli governments and supercharged under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, that is aimed at cementing Israeli rule over the territory and preventing the establishment of a Palestinian state.
#palestinian #qusra
The Israeli military, which over the past three years has displayed staggering military and intelligence capabilities from Beirut to Tehran, has yet to fully remove the settlers from the area of the village, about an hour's drive from Tel Aviv.
The United States, which provides billions of dollars in military aid to Israel, has issued a scathing rebuke, perhaps because one of the homeowners is a Palestinian American living in Ohio.
U.S. Ambassador Mike Huckabee referred to the settlers as "terrorists." Israel's defense minister dismissed them as radical misfits — "boys on the hills."
In reality, they are the tip of the spear for a much larger movement, supported by successive Israeli governments and supercharged under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, that is aimed at cementing Israeli rule over the territory and preventing the establishment of a Palestinian state.
#palestinian #qusra
