By Alexander Cornwell
JERUSALEM, Aug 20 (Reuters) - U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee has warned militant Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank not to steal property owned by Palestinian Americans, describing such behavior as "a violation of God's law".
Huckabee, a Baptist minister and longtime supporter of Israel's settlements, told Reuters in an interview that settlers found to have taken part in a siege of homes in the West Bank village of Qusra, including one belonging to Palestinian
American Loui Ridi, could be punished with U.S. sanctions.
Israeli settlers began encircling homes in Qusra on August 9, in what rights groups said was an attempt to seize privately owned Palestinian land. The case has drawn international condemnation.
Israel's military has deployed dozens of troops to the area and has since pushed the settlers back from the homes. But they remain nearby and residents including Ridi say they fear the settlers will encroach on their properties again once those troops pull back.
Asked what message U.S. President Donald Trump's administration had for settlers considering taking homes or land in the West Bank owned by Palestinian Americans, Huckabee, who last week denounced the perpetrators as "Israeli terrorists", referred to Jewish and Christian scripture.
"I think the message is bigger than just even the Trump administration. It's a message of basic civility and civilized behavior," Huckabee told Reuters in Jerusalem.
"You don't take something that doesn't belong to you."
'THOU SHALT NOT STEAL', HUCKABEE TELLS SETTLERS
U.S. officials have estimated that tens of thousands of Palestinian Americans live in the West Bank, many of them in a cluster of villages between Ramallah and Nablus, where Qusra lies.
Ridi, speaking to Reuters from his home in Qusra on Thursday, said he was in contact with Huckabee's staff at the U.S. embassy in Jerusalem but that he continued to be harassed by Israeli settlers near his property.
Citing the Ten Commandments, Huckabee said: "Thou shalt not steal" and that people should neither take nor "covet" - or "desire" - what belongs to others.
"If someone owns the land and they own their house, then having someone come and take it over and scare the family away from it, that's a violation, not just of man's law. That's a violation of God's law," said Huckabee, a Republican former governor of the U.S. state of Arkansas.
Huckabee is the first evangelical Christian to serve as U.S. ambassador to Israel. He has long supported Israeli settlements in the West Bank and refers to the territory by its biblical name, Judea and Samaria, a term used by the Israeli government but not adopted by the U.S. government.
Offering a defense of settlements in general, he said he believed violent settlers were a minority who do not represent the wider settlement community, who he said "just want to raise their families in Judea and Samaria peacefully and with a level of security."
Palestinians and their supporters reject this argument, saying the settlements eat up territory they want for an independent state. U.N. bodies and most countries consider Israel's settlements to be illegal under international law. Israel disputes this.
The ambassador said the U.S. was "appalled" by what had happened in Qusra. The Palestinian families targeted by Israeli settlers were victims of "inexcusable and repugnant" criminal activity and those settlers found to have taken part should face significant consequences in Israel, he said.
Huckabee also said that anyone found to be involved could also face U.S. sanctions, such as a ban on entering the U.S. although he said he was not aware that any such measures were under consideration.
Israeli police have not announced any arrests or charges against any settler allegedly involved in besieging the Palestinian homes and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has not publicly commented on the incident. A senior settler leader has, however, condemned the actions of the settlers.
(Reporting by Alexander Cornwell with additional reporting by Pesha Magid; editing by Rami Ayyub and Timothy Heritage)
