Israeli settlers trap Palestinians in their West Bank homes

**Nick Miles** (0:00)
This is The Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Nick Miles, and at 15 Hours GMT on Wednesday the 12th of August, these are our main stories. Israeli settlers continue to trap two Palestinian families in their homes in the occupied West Bank after clashing with the Israeli security forces. The German cabinet has approved plans to give sweeping new powers to its intelligence services. A passenger jet billed as China's answer to Boeing and Airbus makes its first international flight.
Also in this podcast, former Chinese premier Zhu Rongji, who had championed free market reforms, has died at the age of 97 And a world record for a hydrogen powered car.

**James Coppenhall** (0:45)
Absolute thrill.

**Nick Miles** (0:47)
They were aiming for 350 miles an hour. They did such a good job. We've just exceeded 400 miles an hour both ways out in the Bonneville salt flats.
We start in the Israeli occupied West Bank, where for the last four days, two homes in the Palestinian village of Kusra have been surrounded by Israeli settlers. They've been stopping the families from getting in or out. They've also cut off the power and water to the building. This Palestinian resident is one of those trapped there.

**Kusai Aburidha** (1:25)
I am Kusai Aburidha from the village of Kusra, south of Nablus. Four days ago, settlers came to the house and blocked us from leaving. They stopped anyone from coming to the house.
We have been deprived of all necessities. The cut off the electricity and water and supply of health care. There is a family living in a nearby house. They have two children, age four and two. They have also been cut off from the outside world. We are unable to leave the house and our situation is tragic. The soldiers arrived at the house, but they did nothing.
We appeal to the humanitarian organizations to help us and protect us and provide food and medicine to the families who are besieged by the settlers.

**Nick Miles** (2:12)
Israeli settlements in the West Bank are illegal under both international and Israeli law. However, so far the Israeli security forces haven't been able or willing to break up what is effectively a siege.
Doron Minot is a retired colonel in the Israeli military, the IDF, who is now a member of Looking the Occupation in the Eye. That's a volunteer group opposed to the Israeli occupation.
He's also in Kastra.

**Doron Minot** (2:40)
This morning, the commander of the Central Command, which is a general, Avi Blut, have been there and promised the Palestinian resident that he is going to solve the problem. And he didn't do it yet. You know, maybe he will do it in the close future, but yet he didn't succeed to do it. And it's a very embarrassing thing for him and for the IDF.

**Nick Miles** (3:06)
Our correspondent John Donnison is the first international journalist to get to the village of Kusra. He told me what's been happening there.

**John Donnison** (3:14)
Well, we're just on the edge of the village of Kusra in the Israeli occupied West Bank. And I'm looking up at these four houses which are on the opposite hillside. We're a distance of what, maybe half a mile or so. And I can make out just to the left of those houses. There are still what looks to be about 10 settlers there. And I can see where they've established some sort of roadblock just a few hundred meters down the line. Now these four properties have been under siege by settlers since Sunday. At some points, the water and electricity has been cut off. Now we have spoken to one of the families who are under siege. And they said that this morning, the Israeli army came and they dismantled some of the settler tents. But as soon as the army moved on, the settlers came back. And this is, you know, a new tactic by the settlers. There's been a huge surge in settler violence against Palestinians in recent years. The UN, I think, says there are on average around about six attacks on Palestinian communities taking place every day this year. That involves violence. Six Palestinians have been killed, hundreds injured. It involves burning property, burning farmland. But this is different. What they're doing in effect is to try and starve these Palestinian families out with the view to take those houses over.

**Nick Miles** (4:34)
Now, John, can we expect the military to go back there and confront these settlers more robustly, perhaps?

**John Donnison** (4:43)
Perhaps. You know, we have had strong words of condemnation from senior leaders within the Israeli military. But as we've seen throughout this past few days, you know, there is a bit of an ambiguity about some of the role of the soldiers. So at the weekend, we saw video footage showing some of the soldiers praying with the settlers. Some of the soldiers are settlers themselves. So the army may well come back, but the accusation from human rights groups and from Palestinian communities is that the Israeli military allows settlers to act with impunity, with the backing of senior figures within Prime Minister Netanyahu's cabinet to support the settler actions.