BRUSSELS: The European Union’s top diplomat Josep Borrell on Friday said that he would propose sanctions against those who support Israeli settler violence in the occupied West Bank. This move follows a recent deadly attack by Israelis on a village in the occupied West Bank.
“Day after day, in an almost total impunity, Israeli settlers fuel violence in the occupied West Bank, contributing to endanger any chance of peace,” Borrell posted on X.
“The Israeli government must stop these unacceptable actions immediately,” he wrote, vowing to “table a proposal for EU sanctions against violent settlers’ enablers, including some Israeli government’s members.”
Such sanctions would need unanimous approval from the EU’s 27-member states, who are currently divided on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The White House condemned the attack on the village of Jit, near Nablus, which occurred on Thursday and resulted in one Palestinian killed and another injured. Israeli President Isaac Herzog described the incident as a “pogrom.”
Violence in the West Bank, a Palestinian territory occupied by Israel since 1967 and separated from the Gaza Strip by Israeli territory, has escalated since the beginning of the Gaza war on October 7 last year which has so far left over 400,00 Palestinians- mostly children and women- dead.
Similarly, according to AFP, hundreds of Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli army or settlers since then, based on official Palestinian data.
Israeli settlement activity in the West Bank, deemed illegal under international law, has reached new heights.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, leader of the conservative Likud party, is backing far-right factions that support increased settlement expansion and even annexation of the West Bank.
