Under siege: A Palestinian-American man returns to get his home back

Qusra, West Bank: He watched from thousands of miles away on a security camera feed as militant Israeli settlers encircled his West Bank house, fearing he could lose his home forever amid increasing Israeli seizures of Palestinian property in the occupied territory.

Loui Ridi, a Palestinian American living in Toledo, Ohio, owns one of three homes that have been under Israeli settler siege for over a week in the occupied West Bank village of Qusra, a case that has drawn US condemnation.

After watching anxiously from the United States for seven sleepless nights, the 46-year-old, who grew up in Qusra before emigrating, decided to board a flight from Detroit to the Middle East to try to visit his home.

“I can’t let the settlers steal my house while I was watching,” he said upon arrival at Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion airport.

Reuters documented Ridi’s journey from the Detroit airport to his home on the outskirts of Qusra, a tiny village in an area of the West Bank that has seen frequent settler attacks and land seizures.

As Ridi travelled up a windy, rocky road to his house, perched on a hilltop, several settlers could be seen milling about in the distance and Israeli military troops patrolled the area.

Accompanied by several journalists, Ridi waited 100 metres from his home’s entrance for about half an hour before a military vehicle escorted the group through his large concrete gate.

Ridi began construction on the house three years ago on land owned by his grandparents and farmed by his family for generations. He said he wanted his daughters to have a home in Qusra so they could connect to their roots.

He entered the house at about 7pm, the sunset casting a purple glow on the horizon. Ridi went to the roof and raised an American flag.

Ridi said his house was in an area that Israeli-Palestinian peace accords in the 1990s put under Palestinian Authority control.

Ridi’s brother, Qusay, and a nephew have been staying in the house to protect it without running water and electricity after settlers cut it off, according to townspeople.

Violence by Jewish settlers in the occupied West Bank has been on the rise, some emboldened by the government of right-wing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has spearheaded a massive settlement expansion in the territory.

United Nations 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.

The UN has said that some 15 Palestinians, including two children and the two people in Ridi’s house, have been trapped by settlers inside homes in Qusra without running water and electricity.