Symbolic imageIsraeli troops empty besieged Qusra homes, settlers stay put
Israeli soldiers moved Palestinian families out of their besieged homes in Qusra in the occupied West Bank on Thursday, but the settlers blockading them since Sunday stayed.
Settlers and soldiers pitched a tent at the entrance to three homes in the village near Nablus on Sunday, cut water and power and turned back an ambulance sent to a sick toddler, the Guardian reported. The UN rights office said 15 people, including two children, were confined and at risk of forcible displacement. Troops seized eight further houses on Thursday, then left them again, mayor Abdul Azim Wadi said; settlers stayed on a nearby hill. The army said it dismantled two outposts and detained one Israeli.
Washington calls it terror
Mike Huckabee, the US ambassador and a long-time settlement supporter, called the siege a "horrific act of terror" and said Israel acted at Washington's request.
Katz praises the Hilltop Youth
Al Jazeera reported that Defence Minister Israel Katz praised radical Hilltop Youth settlers for "holding onto" Palestinian land. Settlers also returned to Ganim, a settlement cleared in 2005.
Settler leaders call it criminal
Yesha Council chairman Yisrael Ganz said the events were "not our way"; Beit El Council head Shai Alon told Ynet the attackers were criminals doing "irreversible damage" to the settlement movement.
Other opinions
Al Jazeera and The National foreground Palestinian accounts that the army shields the settlers; the Jerusalem Post leads on settler leaders' condemnation.