Huckabee calls Israeli settlers ‘terrorists’: Can US push end Qusra siege?

What the report says

US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee has issued an unusually sharp public condemnation of Israeli settlers involved in a siege on Palestinian homes in Qusra, a village near Nablus in the occupied West Bank. According to Al Jazeera, he described the attackers as “Israeli terrorists” and said the US embassy had pressed Israeli forces and police to intervene. The remarks were notable because US officials typically criticize settler violence without using that language.

Al Jazeera reported that three Palestinian families, including one with a dual US citizen, were trapped in their homes with water and electricity cut off. Residents said the siege began on Sunday and had left 15 people, including two children, isolated and dependent on limited supplies. Local and international bodies, including the UN human rights office and the Palestinian foreign ministry, also denounced the situation and warned that the families risked forced displacement.

Israeli forces and police were reported to have tried to remove the settlers, who had blocked access with rocks and tents, though Palestinians remained skeptical that the response would hold. Al Jazeera said residents of Qusra fear a repeat of past incidents in which families were pushed out and their properties taken over. The village has faced settler attacks for years, amid broader tensions tied to Israeli settlement expansion in the West Bank.

The episode highlights the wider dispute over settler violence, Israeli control in Area C and the role of the US in pressing Israel to curb attacks on Palestinians.