Europe 1 with AFP 4:28 p.m., February 12, 2024
Palestinian civilians on Monday called on the European Union to take sanctions against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and four other ministers for crimes and human rights violations in the occupied West Bank, the French law firm representing them said. .
The official request was addressed to the head of European diplomacy Josep Borrell by Me Sarah Sameur, of the Demain law firm, which represents 21 Palestinians living in different places in the West Bank. It calls on the EU to impose sanctions, under the Human Rights regime, against Benjamin Netanyahu and the Ministers of Defense Yoav Gallant, Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer, National Security Itamar Ben Gvir, and of Finance Bezalel Smotrich, for “their involvement in crimes and serious violations of human rights”, specifies a press release.
“These acts are part of a long-standing policy of illegal colonization”
“The plaintiffs were victims of crimes including violent attacks against them, arbitrary arrests, torture and ill-treatment and forced displacement,” the text states. Among these witnesses, anonymous for security reasons, is a woman whose two sons were killed during an Israeli raid on a refugee camp in the West Bank in early February.
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“These acts are part of a long-standing policy of illegal settlement and an institutionalized practice of systematic attacks against the civilian population in the West Bank, which constitute crimes against humanity under the Rome Statute,” adds the communicated.
A Union that does not agree on the subject
European sanctions may include travel bans and a freezing of funds of targeted individuals. The West Bank, Palestinian territory occupied since 1967 by Israel, has been shaken by a surge in violence since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, triggered by the unprecedented attack by the Palestinian Islamist movement on Israeli territory. on October 7.
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According to the Palestinian Authority, more than 380 Palestinians have been killed since then by Israeli soldiers or settlers in the West Bank. More than 2.9 million Palestinians live in the occupied West Bank, separated from the Gaza Strip by Israeli territory.
Around 490,000 Israelis also live there, in settlements deemed illegal by international law. Washington and London have taken sanctions against "extremist settlers", but the European Union, which must decide on them unanimously, has not yet managed to agree on the subject, due to opposition from countries like Hungary and the Czech Republic, according to diplomatic sources.