A Palestinian citizen inspects his car, which was burned by settlers during their attack on the village of Asira Al-Qibliya, south of Nablus (French)
The French Foreign Ministry announced on Tuesday that it had imposed sanctions on “28 extremist Israeli settlers” who committed “acts of violence against Palestinian civilians” in the occupied West Bank.
The ministry said in a statement that the 28 people were “administratively prohibited from being present on French territory,” stressing that it is working to “approve sanctions at the European level” for settlers who commit acts of violence. However, the statement did not mention the names of these settlers.
The ministry added in its statement, "These measures come with the increase in acts of violence committed by settlers against the Palestinian population in the past few months. France reaffirms its strong condemnation of this unacceptable violence, and as we have said on several occasions, the Israeli authorities have the responsibility to put an end to it and prosecute its perpetrators."
The French Foreign Ministry added, "Settlement is illegal under international law, and must stop. Its continuation is incompatible with the establishment of a viable Palestinian state, which is the only solution that enables Israelis and Palestinians to live side by side in peace and security."
In the first Israeli reaction to the French decision, the extremist Israeli Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben Gvir, attacked France against the backdrop of its imposition of sanctions on settlers in the occupied West Bank, and demanded that Tel Aviv take care of its interests and not the interests of Paris.
Ben Gvir - who is the head of the "Otzma Yehudit" (Jewish Power) party - said in a post on his account on the Lebanon considered it a surrender to the Lebanese Hezbollah.
Israeli media had claimed that one of the detainees whom an Israeli force was able to release at dawn yesterday, Monday, from the city of Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip, had received medications while he was in captivity, but they were not the medications that Israel had brought.
The United States and Britain have imposed sanctions on “extremist settlers,” but the European Union - which should decide unanimously - has not yet been able to reach an agreement in this regard due to the opposition of countries such as Hungary and the Czech Republic, according to diplomatic sources.
European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said last December that he would also propose similar measures.
Paris supported this initiative, and diplomats said they hoped that its measures, once implemented, would accelerate European action.
A joint statement by the foreign ministers of France, Poland and Germany said on Monday that settler violence against Palestinians in the West Bank is unacceptable and “sanctions must be imposed.”
United Nations statistics show that daily settler attacks have doubled since Operation Al-Aqsa Flood on October 7 and the continued Israeli aggression that followed on the Gaza Strip.
It is noteworthy that more than 400,000 Israeli settlers live in settlements in the occupied West Bank, which are considered illegal under international law.
Source: Al Jazeera + agencies