On 28 August 2026, our office, through attorney Ghiath Nasser, filed an urgent petition with the Supreme Court of Israel sitting as the High Court of Justice, on behalf of the Qusra Village Council and nine residents of the village who own homes and structures in the Ras al-Ein / Jabal Ein Eina area. An urgent request for an interim order was filed together with the petition.
The petition was filed against the Commander of IDF Forces in the West Bank, the Head of the Civil Administration in the West Bank, the Legal Adviser to the Military Government, the Israel Police, and the Minister of Defense. It concerns an ongoing situation in which settlers entered the area of residents’ homes, established footholds, attacked residents and houses, damaged property and infrastructure, and continued to remain in the area despite repeated requests to the authorities and an active military presence on the ground. The petition emphasizes that the center of the events lies approximately 2.7 kilometers inside Area B.
Among the serious incidents described in the petition are attacks on peace activists and local residents by masked individuals armed with clubs and iron bars, break-ins into homes, the dismantling and theft of security cameras, and damage to private property. The petition also addresses the grave incident of 14 March 2026, in which Qusra resident Amir Odeh was killed and several other residents were injured.
The petition further refers to the burning of Al-Rahma Mosque in Qusra on 26 July 2026, as part of a continuing series of serious attacks affecting residents, homes, property, and places of worship.
The petition argues that even after the partial removal of certain encampment points and the cessation of military use of several private homes, the settlers themselves were not removed from the area. Instead, they continued to remain at other footholds and move among residents’ homes, while the homeowners themselves were unable to maintain a free and safe daily life.
Our office asked the Court, among other things, to order the removal of settlers unlawfully present in the area, the dismantling of the remaining footholds, measures to prevent their return, effective law-enforcement action, and the guarantee of free and safe access for residents to their homes and land. The request for an interim order sought immediate protection pending a final decision in the petition.
Only one day after the petition was filed, on 29 August 2026, another serious incident occurred in Qusra. Dozens of settlers, many of them masked, arrived in the area, threw stones, and entered the home of one of the petitioners while people were inside. As a result, our office filed an additional urgent update with the Court on 30 August 2026, together with photographs and video footage from the scene.
On the same day, the Supreme Court ordered the State to submit its response to the request for an interim order by 2 September 2026.
The objective of the proceedings is to secure immediate judicial intervention that will ensure the removal of the settlers from the area, end their unlawful presence and entrenchment around residents’ homes, and protect the homeowners’ right to return to their homes, use their property, and move safely.
