Israel sends more troops to West Bank village besieged by Jewish settlers

QUSRA, West Bank, Aug 13 - Israel's military said on Thursday it had sent more troops to a West Bank village where settlers have trapped Palestinian families inside their homes, a siege the Palestinians say is aimed at forcibly displacing them from their land.

The siege began at the weekend when Jewish settlers closed off the road to the three homes in the Palestinian village of Qusra and set up a tent in their front yards, refusing to allow anyone to enter or leave. The settlers had earlier cut off their electricity and water.

Israel's military says it is trying to disperse the settlers from the area, even as a video from earlier in the week showed several Israeli men in green military garb joining the settlers in a morning prayer in the tent. The military said it was taking disciplinary action against any personnel involved.

A day after troops deployed tear gas in a failed attempt to remove the settlers, the military said it had sent additional troops to Qusra "to carry out defensive missions and patrols in the area to maintain security and protect the area."

The United Nations said in a statement that some 15 Palestinians including two children were "being trapped inside their homes in a state of terror, unable to attend to their basic needs and without access to water or electricity."

BESIEGED FAMILIES APPEAL FOR HELP

The military has come under increasing pressure to halt rogue land seizures by settlers emboldened by the right-wing government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, which has spearheaded a rapid expansion of settlements in the occupied West Bank.

The two families under siege in the area say they have no food or medicine, and that the settlers have been damaging their property, throwing stones at their homes and shouting insulting language at them.

"We appeal to government institutions and to every free and honourable person to help us secure food and medicine," said Qusay Abu Reeda, a Palestinian-American who is trapped with his family inside one of the homes.

The U.S. Ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, said the Israeli military and police "have gone at our request to remove the Israeli terrorists doing this," adding: "The actions of those doing this to this family's home is criminal."

Palestinians say the Israeli military allows settlers to seize land and resources across the West Bank with impunity, including in areas where they hold Israel-issued ownership documents.

Incidents of settler land seizures are especially common in areas on the outskirts of villages, like Qusra, which sits in an area under complete Israeli security control.

The West Bank, territory Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East war, is home to some three million Palestinians and 500,000 settlers. There are some 146 settlements in the West Bank, as well as 390 smaller outposts, according to the Israeli settlement watchdog group Peace Now. REUTERS