LEILA FADEL, HOST:
There is a siege going on in the rocky hills of the Israeli-occupied West Bank. On one side are Israeli settlers who believe God gave the West Bank to Jewish people in the Bible. On the other side are Palestinian villagers trying to hold on to their homes. One of those homes is owned by a Palestinian American businessman who lives in Toledo, Ohio, which has drawn unusual attention from the U.S. government. NPR's Frank Langfitt has been following the story from Tel Aviv and joins me now. Good morning, Frank.
FRANK LANGFITT, BYLINE: Hey. Good morning, Leila.
FADEL: So describe what's happening and where.
LANGFITT: Yeah. So we're talking about, like, sort of this dry, scrubby hilltop in the northern part of the West Bank. The Palestinians live in these big, huge, hulking houses behind gates, surrounded by walls. And on Sunday, Israeli settlers blocked off roads to these houses. The owner of one house told me they cut off the water, food supplies and electricity. Villagers that I was talking to - people - other people inside the house said the settlers were cursing them, throwing rocks, trying to force them out. There's a lot of video online. And this kind of looks like a modern version - a little like a medieval siege. You have the settlers below, pacing around these walls, threatening the people inside, who are holed up in their homes.
FADEL: What is it that the settlers are trying to do or look like they're trying to do?
LANGFITT: Well, the villagers say the settlers are trying to force them out so they can take over these homes. This has already happened at another home not too far away. And we should point out - settlements in the occupied territories - they're considered illegal under international law.
FADEL: Frank, is the Israeli military doing anything about these families living under siege?
LANGFITT: So what they've done is this. They've sent soldiers, dismantled some settler outposts - and basically, I'm just talking a tent or two. And they sent a battalion to provide more support. But I was talking to Loui Ridi. He's a Palestinian American. He's the homeowner that you were talking about. He lives, as you said, in Toledo. And he's been watching all this play out on a feed from the security cameras at his house in the West Bank, and Ridi makes this point about the Israeli military.
LOUI RIDI: They're not arresting the settlers. Actually, they came on Sunday. They celebrated with the settlers. We captured this on video. They walked into the tent. And they start chilling and hanging out with the settlers. And then they conducted a prayer with the settlers.
FADEL: Why would the soldiers be celebrating and praying with settlers who are attacking homeowners?
LANGFITT: That's a good question. I talked to a guy who was an active-duty soldier in the West Bank for a couple of years, and he asked NPR not to use his name because of the sensitivity of discussing military operations there. But he said the military, which, of course, was established to be secular, has seen an influx of much more religious people over the years. These are folks that are much more likely to be sympathetic to settlers and their claims to the West Bank. And he says some of the soldiers are settlers themselves.
FADEL: What has the U.S. reaction been?
LANGFITT: Mike Huckabee - he's the U.S. ambassador to Israel. He's called the attacks criminal, and he's called these perpetrators terrorists. But when I talk to Loui Ridi, he says these statements aren't enough because the settlers have been there - I mean, back and forth - a lot. And he also said on Thursday that soldiers evacuated his brother and others from his home for a while for their own protection. And later, when they returned, the surveillance system was disabled. A mattress was gone. And I asked Ridi why they disabled the cameras.
RIDI: Because those videos had been going out to the media. And simply, they're trying to prevent to document what's going on around the house. If they're doing the right thing, why would they care?
LANGFITT: I was talking to Ridi's brother Qusai in the house just about 20 minutes ago. He said soldiers had taken down a tent, and the settlers had left. But he says he still can't leave, and the siege continues.
FADEL: That's NPR's Frank Langfitt. Thank you, Frank.
LANGFITT: Happy to do it, Leila. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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