The siege in the Ras al-Ain area of Qusra, south of Nablus, has entered its second week. Fifteen Palestinians, including two children, remain besieged inside three homes, surrounded by armed Israeli settlers and military battalions, cut off from food, water, and electricity.
The United Nations reported that residents are “trapped inside their homes in a state of terror, unable to attend to their basic needs and without access to water or electricity.” The humanitarian crisis remained acute on Sunday when the Israeli army intercepted a UNICEF convoy attempting to deliver aid. While two vehicles provided temporary food relief, military forces blocked and expelled a water tanker, sustaining severe deprivation.
Qusra Mayor Abdel Azim Wadi told Al Jazeera, “We were unable to restore electricity and water to the three besieged homes.” He emphasized, “Humanely, we have often heard about human rights, children’s rights, and women’s rights, but today what our families in Jabal Ras al-Ain are experiencing is truly stripped of humanity.”
Al Jazeera’s Laith Jaar, reporting from Qusra, witnessed the military’s direct involvement. “The Israeli army is providing support to these settlers and moving in the area with their participation, trying to distance Palestinians and expel them from their homes,” he reported. He described “continuous siege operations that completely tighten the stranglehold on the Palestinians.”
Inside the cordoned area, residents remain defiant. The Israeli army has converted a home at the top of the hill into a military barracks and declared the area a closed military zone to expel international activists. However, the military has refused to execute nine eviction orders against the illegal outpost established by the Hilltop Youth militia in Area B, from which settlers are operating.
Qusai Abu Reida, a besieged resident, communicated his resolve: “We will remain steadfast and patient, even if they cut off our food, nourishment, and medicine, and even if we drink water and salt. We made a pact with ourselves and our neighbors Youssef and Rizq that we will not leave here except as martyrs.” He affirmed, “It is impossible for us to leave this house, as this is our effort and the effort of our ancestors’ land; we will not take it lightly and give it to them.”
Political analysts view the siege as a calculated blueprint for broader ethnic cleansing. Mustafa Barghouti, Secretary-General of the Palestinian National Initiative, told Al Jazeera, “The first tactical goal is to seize these lands and thousands of dunams, expel these people, and ethnically cleanse them from their homes through threatening them with terrorism.” He warned that the strategic goal is a message to all West Bank villages: “What is happening in Qusra will happen in other places.”
Erika Guevara Rosas, Amnesty International’s Senior Director, stated that “the horrors unfolding in Qusra reflect the relentless escalation and expansion of an accelerating and well-documented pattern of coordinated and strategic settler terror, enabled, backed and funded by the State of Israel.” She noted that settlers have established over 300 outposts since October 2023, while the Israeli government has advanced plans for 104 new settlements.
Source: www.aljazeera.com