Loui Abu Ridi, a Palestinian-American, has been trapped inside his home in the northern West Bank village of Qusra for 26 days, surrounded by Israeli settlers who have besieged the property, cut off access to food and medicine, and terrorized his family. The siege began in early August, and Abu Ridi, who returned from Ohio to be with his mother, brother, and sister, says they now live "hour by hour" as armed militants circle the area.
Siege and Escalating Violence
Abu Ridi's garden, which he and his family had painstakingly cultivated over two years with cherry, fig, and olive trees, solar lights, and a path, has been devastated. Settlers smashed windows, ripped out cabling, attacked his brother with rocks, and brought sheep into the yard that ate the saplings. At the start of August, settlers erected a tent outside his house and encircled two others, trapping residents and blocking supplies.
When his brother called the police, Abu Ridi says, "they sent the military, but instead of helping him, they took selfies with the settlers." His 83-year-old mother has run out of medicine, and any supplies must be negotiated via the village mayor, taking days to arrive. Neighbor's children, who should have returned to school, cannot even go out to play, he laments: "Those kids, they cannot live their childhood."
Context: West Bank Occupation and Settlements
The West Bank, a territory on the west bank of the Jordan River, has been under Israeli occupation since the Six Day War in 1967. The first Israeli settlements were established soon after, and they have been formally recognized as violating international law, though Israel disputes this. In 2024, the International Court of Justice declared Israel's continued occupation unlawful.
The 1995 Oslo peace deal created three administrative areas intended to form a future Palestinian state, but this prospect has been consistently undermined. According to B'Tselem, the Israeli Information Centre for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories, around 700,000 Israelis live illegally in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, alongside more than 3.5 million Palestinians.
Surge in Attacks Since October 2023
Since the Hamas attacks on 7 October 2023, which killed 1,200 predominantly Jewish people and took 251 hostages, settler violence has sharply escalated. UN figures show that between 7 October 2023 and 21 June 2026, 1,105 Palestinians, including at least 242 children, were killed in the West Bank. B'Tselem estimates nearly 5,000 people have been expelled since 2023, and over 60 communities have been erased.
B'Tselem describes this as a systemic campaign, not sporadic acts by rogue extremists. The Israeli state has provided settlers with guns, uniforms, and all-terrain vehicles. The aim, B'Tselem says, is to push Palestinians into disconnected enclaves while building infrastructure for settlers. This is supported by much of the Israeli government, including far-right finance minister Bezalel Smotrich, himself a settler. Settlement minister Orit Strook called the rapid expansion after the attacks "a time of miracles," drawing criticism from opposition politicians and families of 7 October victims.
UK Sanctions and International Response
In the UK, the new government under Prime Minister Andy Burnham is expected to announce a ban on trade with Israeli settlements, a move long anticipated by campaigners. Foreign secretary Ed Miliband told MPs: "This government will not acquiesce in the destruction of the two-state solution. We will act, and I will set out a comprehensive set of measures in the coming weeks."
However, Labour Friends of Israel has warned that such a ban could become a de facto boycott of Israel, causing significant harm to the UK's Jewish community. An Amnesty briefing suggests the government could use the same enforcement framework as sanctions on Russia, distinguishing goods from occupied territories. Within Israel, security chiefs have demanded action to "eradicate Jewish terrorism" on the West Bank.
Abu Ridi, using his dual citizenship, has drawn attention to the situation. US ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, usually no ally to the Palestinian cause, recently described the settlers besieging Abu Ridi's home as "terrorists." Abu Ridi says, "I am a Palestinian-American. But I'm not the only one living this life. There are hundreds and thousands of Palestinians in the West Bank, being threatened and beaten by Israeli extremists, and forced out of their houses."
Despite the ordeal, there is a glimmer of hope. Since the siege began, settlers have stopped encouraging their sheep onto his property. "I was just talking with my brother about this," he says. "We've started seeing green leaves, so there's hope for those trees, if the settlers stay away from my yard."
