By Pesha Magid
QUSRA, West Bank, Aug 29 (Reuters) – Dozens of masked Israeli settler militants attacked homes surrounding the occupied West Bank village of Qusra on Saturday, the first major attack since a siege by settlers in the area earlier this month drew an international outcry.
The settlers surrounded a Palestinian home, throwing stones while seven Palestinians were trapped inside, according to witnesses who spoke to Reuters.
Saddam Oday, one of those trapped, said the Israeli military fired tear gas into the home and detained the residents inside while letting him go. He said the Israeli military had not detained any of the settlers and had allowed them to leave.
The owner of the house, Luay Bayruti, said when the military arrived they handcuffed, blindfolded and beat those inside, before later releasing them.
The Israeli military said in a statement that troops and border police forces had arrived on the scene to remove “rioters” and protect the residents inside the house.
The military did not immediately respond to a request for comment on why they had reportedly fired tear gas at the house and detained and beaten the residents.
In his first public statement on Qusra, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he condemned the violence in Qusra and blamed a “handful of rioters”.
“I strongly condemn the criminal acts of violence committed in the villages of Qusra and Jalud,” said Netanyahu, referring to a separate incident in a neighbouring village.
The United States had previously pressured Netanyahu to publicly condemn the militant settlers who had besieged Palestinians in their homes, U.S. and Israeli officials told Reuters around two weeks ago.
The Israeli government has previously blamed a “fringe minority” for settler violence, a characterisation disputed by findings from rights groups.
A U.N. inquiry in June found that Israeli authorities are directly involved in settler attacks that have killed, injured and displaced Palestinians in the occupied West Bank. The Israeli mission in Geneva rejected the report’s findings.
RESIDENT REPORTS NEAR-DAILY ENCROACHMENTS
Bayruti said that after calling the Israeli military for help, he and six others were trapped inside the home for more than an hour as settlers threw stones.
Bayruti showed a Reuters reporter his bandaged arm, which he said had been injured by a stone during the attack.
Oday, a medic, said four of those trapped had suffered injuries due to the tear gas, and two had suffered injuries from the stones thrown by settlers.
The attack occurred a few hundred yards away from three homes to which settlers laid siege this month, drawing international condemnation and a massive Israeli military deployment that residents say has kept them effectively trapped in their homes.
“They spotted the residents working on their house, which is still under construction and they started throwing rocks,” said Loui Ridi, a Palestinian-American whose home was one of the three under siege this month. He said he watched Saturday’s attack occur from his home.
Ridi said he had seen near-daily encroachments of Israeli settlers into the area surrounding his home, despite the heavy Israeli military presence in the area.
SETTLER VIOLENCE ON THE RISE
Rights groups say the increasing settler presence on the edge of Palestinian villages, like Qusra, is part of a wider effort by settlers to seize more land from Palestinians, further eating into territory where Palestinians aim to establish a state.
Violence by Jewish settlers in the occupied West Bank has increased, with some emboldened by the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has overseen a massive settlement expansion in the territory.
U.N. bodies and most countries deem the settlements illegal under international law regarding military occupations. Israel rejects this, viewing the area as disputed rather than occupied.
(Reporting by Pesha Magid, additional reporting by Roleen Tafakji; Editing by Rami Ayyub, Aidan Lewis and Hugh Lawson)
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