ABNA24 - France announced on Tuesday a new package of sanctions targeting Israeli officials and settlers over expanding settlement activity and settler violence in the occupied West Bank, in coordination with Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Norway.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said in a post on X that the six countries had agreed to take joint action against those responsible for escalating settlement expansion and related violence in the West Bank.
Barrot said that France has imposed a national entry ban on Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, along with four officials linked to settlement organizations and 21 settlers accused of involvement in acts of violence.
The French minister said Smotrich has openly advocated for the annexation of the occupied West Bank, supported the expansion of settlements and the establishment of new outposts, and called for the re-establishment of Israeli settlements in Gaza.
He added that the Israeli minister’s policies, including measures that place economic pressure on the Palestinian Authority, run counter to the international consensus supporting a two-state solution and threaten regional stability and prospects for a political settlement.
The sanctions come amid a continued rise in settlement activity across the West Bank. According to a report by the Palestinian Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission, 1,659 violations by Israeli forces and settlers were documented in May alone, including land confiscations, bulldozing operations, and settlement expansion.
In early June, Israeli authorities also approved new settlement plans, including more than 230 housing units in the settlement of Kiryat Arba east of Hebron, as part of broader projects involving 2,721 settlement units across different areas of the West Bank.
In a related move, Israel’s Higher Planning Committee approved the construction of 2,162 additional settlement units in settlements across the northern and southern West Bank. Israeli media reported that the plans are part of wider efforts to expand the settlement enterprise and strengthen settler presence on Palestinian land.
European governments have continued to criticize Israeli settlement policies, arguing that they undermine the viability of a two-state solution and contribute to growing instability in the occupied Palestinian territories.
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