The situation in Qusra first began on Sunday when settlers blocked the road to the Palestinian families’ gates and cut off their power and water supplies. The first Israeli soldiers who came to the site prayed with the settlers – an act for which the Israel military later said they would be disciplined.
On Wednesday an attempt by Israeli security forces to dislodge the settlers led to confrontations with a bigger group – and ultimately failed.
Palestinian security camera video shared with the BBC showed confrontations between Israeli soldiers and border police and a large crowd of settlers. The security forces used tear gas and stun grenades.
In other footage, the Israeli forces appear to have confiscated the canopy under which the settlers were sheltering, while leaving their other equipment.
It is not clear exactly what the settlers in Qusra want. In the past, settlers have forced Palestinians out of their homes and seized their properties.
The stated aim of the settlers is to empty the area of its Palestinian residents.
Settlements are illegal under international law, but the Israeli government has promoted their recent rapid expansion.
The Palestinian village mayor, Abdel Azim Wadi, told the BBC that local residents had seen “a clear and sustained pattern of targeting Qusra”. Last month a newly completed mosque was set on fire with graffiti in Hebrew sprayed nearby.
That settler attack was one of many that followed on from an incident in the Palestinian village of Tal. After Israeli settlers attacked Tal, it triggered an escalation in which six people were killed – four Palestinians and two Israeli soldiers – one of whom acted as a security coordinator for a nearby Israeli settlement.
In July, settlers also surrounded a Palestinian home in the village of Jalud, near Qusra, for more than two weeks. Afterwards, the owners fled and settlers took over the property where they remain until now.
