US presses Netanyahu over settlers as Qusra homes are occupied
Washington is pressing Israel's prime minister to condemn settlers besieging Palestinian families in the West Bank village of Qusra. Benjamin Netanyahu has not commented.
Symbolic imageWashington is pressing Benjamin Netanyahu to condemn the settlers besieging Palestinian families at Qusra, where the UN says about 15 people are cut off without water or power. Netanyahu has not commented; Katz's plan for 104 new settlements stands.
Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967 and continues to build settlements there. Palestinian representatives and UN officials say the construction violates international law and forecloses a future Palestinian state; Israel rejects that. The dispute is raised regularly before the UN Security Council.
Washington is pressing Israel's prime minister to condemn settlers besieging Palestinian families in the West Bank village of Qusra. Benjamin Netanyahu has not commented.
Israel's defence minister ordered the army on Friday to hand civilian law enforcement in the occupied West Bank to the police. Settlers have besieged Palestinian families in Qusra since Sunday.
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 have kept two Palestinian families trapped in their homes in the West Bank village of Qusra since Sunday. Israeli troops sent to lift the siege pulled back on Wednesday without ending it.
Palestine's UN envoy asked the Security Council on Tuesday to enforce international law in the occupied West Bank. A UN official said settlement expansion must be treated as an emergency.