Qusai Abu Ridi, a Palestinian resident whose house in the village of Kusra, situated south of Nablus in the West Bank, has been targeted by radical Israeli settlers in recent days, said that despite actions taken by the IDF on Wednesday to remove the makeshift outpost outside his house, settlers are still present in its surroundings, posing a threat to him, his family, and his neighbors.
“The danger has not gone away,” he told The Jerusalem Post.
Though the tent’s structure had been dismantled, Qusai said that a group of Israeli settlers had returned.
“The forces left, and the settlers came back, first to a spot at the doorstep of my neighbor Youssef Hassan, and now to the place where they originally set up their tent, which is about seven meters from our house,” Qusai said. “I can see them from the window, sitting on mattresses and chairs.”
“They haven’t been evacuated, and we’re afraid they will attack us. They have already thrown stones at the house a couple of times, and we have no protection.”
Meanwhile, Israeli security forces contacted the head of Kusra village council to inform him of planned military activity in the area.
On Thursday, Qusai said that, at 4 a.m., the army arrived and asked him to evacuate.
“The council head said it would be only for a couple of days until the army completes its mission, and that we can return on Sunday,” he noted. “I hope this will help. For now, we are at Youssef’s house.” He added that settlers continued to hang around nearby and move between locations. “Now, for example, they are a bit farther away, outside the yard.”
Qusai attributed the recent escalation to the deadly clashes that erupted in the village of Tell in the northern West Bank a couple of weeks ago, and claimed that “settlers have increased their presence and harassment since then.”
Settler violence in Kusra ramped up since January
He said that the establishment of the tent a few days ago was a continuation of a series of provocations and harassment by settlers that began in January this year.
“What happened in the past days has been much worse, blocking us inside the house without being able to go out. We were running out of food and water. Who can imagine something like that?” he told the Post.
“And even now, it’s like nothing has changed; we feel besieged because they are still here, and if we move out from our doorstep, we are afraid they will harm us or won’t let us enter the house.”
Extremist settlers aim to 'drag family away from house,' Qusai said
Qusai said he believed this group of extremist settlers aimed to drag him and his family away from the house, on the western outskirts of Kusra, and settle there. “We will hold on to our land and property,” he said. “We will not let them expel us from this land and take over. Even if we are left only with salt and water, we’ll stay here,” Qusai told the Post.
He noted that he had moved to the house with his wife and two daughters shortly after Israeli extremists began to target the compound, which belongs to his brother, who lives in the US. The brother, Louay, has American citizenship and reached out to the US embassy for help, Qusai said, adding that he is scheduled to arrive in Kusra on Sunday.