A storm erupted in Judea and Samaria following events that unfolded Saturday near the village of Qusra. After the IDF and Border Police issued a statement saying dozens of Israelis barricaded themselves in a ‘Palestinian’ home where local residents were present, residents of the Tel Talpiot outpost presented a completely different version of events after the Sabbath ended.
According to local testimonies, the incident began when several Israelis went out on a routine security patrol in an off-road vehicle near the hilltop. They claim that as they passed near an abandoned construction site, they were attacked by about 40 ‘Palestinians’ who ambushed them in the area of the building.
2+According to the residents, they immediately reported to the IDF and security forces in the sector and requested assistance, but after forces didn’t arrive quickly, they began repelling the attackers themselves and called additional residents from the area to help them.
The version presented by the residents contradicts the joint statement released earlier by the IDF Spokesperson and Border Police spokesperson. According to the security forces’ statement, forces were dispatched to Qusra following a report of “Israeli rioters” and violent friction that included stone-throwing at ‘Palestinians’. The IDF and Border Police even claimed that upon the forces’ arrival, dozens of Israelis were identified barricaded in a “‘Palestinian’ house” while Arab residents were inside it.
“The Building Is Abandoned, the Rioters Barricaded Themselves Inside”
Tel Talpiot residents reject this description. According to them, the building where part of the confrontation took place is not an inhabited house at all, but an abandoned construction site, and the ‘Palestinians’ were the ones who entered it during the incident and threw stones from it at the Israelis.
They further claim that during the events, roadblocks were set up on access routes to the location, including piles of stones and burning tires, which made it difficult for security forces and additional residents to reach the area.
2+Activist Elisha Yered claimed after the Sabbath ended that this was a pre-planned incident designed to create images portraying Israelis as attackers. “Dozens of masked Arab rioters from the village of Qusra, accompanied by foreign media photographers, came up to the hilltop at noon on the Sabbath, threw stones at residents, and set up stone barriers and burning tires on access routes in an attempt to make it difficult for IDF forces to reach the location,” Yered wrote.
According to him, “Residents conducting a security patrol out of concern for infiltrations and terror incidents encountered the Arab rioters and immediately reported to the security center and the IDF. When the IDF was slow to come, the residents who were attacked asked additional residents from the area to also come and repel the attack.”
The Claim: An Attempt to Portray a “Siege”
Locals claim that the ‘Palestinians” entry into the abandoned building was part of a deliberate attempt to create a media image of Israelis besieging a ‘Palestinian’ home. According to Yered, the Arabs “entered an abandoned house located in an open area up the mountain, barricaded themselves in it, and threw stones from it at the Jews in an attempt to brand the incident in the media as another ‘siege.'”
2+According to him, residents who arrived to help cleared the stone barriers from the access routes and repelled the ‘Palestinians’ from the slopes of the hill. After the route opened and IDF forces arrived at the location, the Israelis left the area. Yered even claimed that six ‘Palestinians’ who barricaded themselves in the building and threw stones were arrested by security forces but were released after about an hour.
Sharp Criticism of IDF Spokesperson’s Statement
After the Sabbath ended, hilltop residents leveled sharp criticism at the way the incident was described in the official IDF and Border Police statement. “Again and again, the media systematically exploits the Sabbath and slanders the Israelis who are prevented from responding,” they claimed. “So too in this incident, which is entirely a violent, premeditated provocation by the enemy from beginning to end.”
The residents particularly criticized the characterization of the Arabs who were in the building as “the home’s occupants.” According to them, “Unfortunately, the IDF spokesperson bought the enemy’s ‘Pallywood’ in the statement he issued, and called the rioters ‘the home’s occupants’—when in fact it’s an abandoned building that never contained residents.”
עלילת דם בחסות השבת: ערבים יידו אבנים, הציבו חסמים – והתלוננו על תקיפה נגדית
עם צאת השבת הודפים בגבעת תל תלפיות את עלילת הדם, ומספקים תיעודים ברורים מהאירוע שמפריכים את טענות התקשורת. עשרות פורעים ערבים רעולי פנים מהכפר קוסרה מלווים בצלמי תקשורת זרים עלו בצהרי השבת לגבעה, יידו… pic.twitter.com/r4ZoF39awo
— אלישע ירד (@ElishaYered) August 29, 2026
Locals further claim that the incident comes amid an ongoing struggle over control of the area: “The campaign that has been conducted for weeks over the head of the hilltop, which guards the strategic mountain, the second highest in Samaria, has one goal: to transfer control of it to the ‘Palestinian’ Authority.”
The Binyamin Regional Council stated: “At noon (Saturday), clashes developed between Israelis and Arabs in the area of the villages of Qusra and Jalud in Binyamin. According to the Israelis, while they were out on patrol, they were attacked with stones and clubs by dozens of Arabs from Qusra. In footage from the incident, Arabs can be seen throwing stones at the Israelis, while behind them are journalists from foreign media outlets documenting what is happening.
“During the incident, a confrontation developed that included stone-throwing from both sides. Later, dozens of Israelis arrived at a house in Qusra where Arabs were staying, and there too a confrontation developed. IDF and Border Police forces arrived at the location, separated the sides, and removed the Israelis from the house. The Binyamin Council condemns the violence used during the events and calls on security forces to investigate the rioters who were documented throwing stones and to bring them to full justice.”