EU Moves To Sanction 'Extremist' Israeli Settlers, Following Biden Administration
The European Union is moving toward imposing sanctions against "extremist" Israeli settlers who are caught waging attacks on Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.
"I am in favor of sanctioning those involved in the attacks in the West Bank. They must be held accountable. This violence has nothing to do with the fight against Hamas and must stop," European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen told EU lawmakers, backing a resolution.
The affirmation follows EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell's earlier Monday statement which said the bloc was "alarmed by the violence in the West Bank by extremist settlers" and condemned the Netanyahu government's rubberstamping of 1,700 more housing units in Jerusalem, likely to greatly expand Israeli presence in East Jerusalem.
Borrell said he was readying a sanctions proposal in the EU to trying and stem settler violence. Since Oct.7, there have been a wave of settler 'retaliation' attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank.
The EU move follows on the heels of the Biden administration last week announcing rare sanctions on Israeli settlers involved in attacks on Palestinians, which bans them from traveling to the United States.
The US government has not sanctioned Israeli settlers going all the way back to the Clinton administration, but Washington has consistently condemned settler expansion in the West Bank, at least as far as public policy and rhetoric goes.
The conflict centered on Gaza has received by far most international media attention, but there's been a parallel war raging in the West Bank. Nablus, for example, has been declared a closed military zone and is under blockade by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) for at least 55 days.
Regional sources say that since Oct.7, at least 250 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank - mostly in army raids and clashes with Israeli security forces, but also as a result of settler violence.
Weeks ago the Biden administration circulated a memo to top State Department and other officials asking them to prepare action "against individuals or entities who directly or indirectly engaged in actions that threaten security or stability in the West Bank or take actions that intimidate civilians in the West Bank or actions that significantly obstruct, disrupt or prevent efforts to achieve a two-state solution."
ABC on Tuesday night aired a prime time segment from the West Bank showing rising violence between settlers and Palestinians in the West Bank...
Meanwhile, more European countries are eyeing a ban on Hamas or political activity seen as supporting the violent jihadist Palestinian group, with Switzerland's senate being the latest to prepare a law outlawing it.