Last updated:
Settler violence was already on the rise before the Gaza war began, and has worsened since the conflict began a year ago.
Palestinians inspect damage after an Israeli airstrike in the West Bank town of Tulkarem. (AP file photo)
The United States on Monday imposed sanctions on an Israeli settler group it accused of helping fuel violence in the occupied West Bank, which has seen a rise in settler attacks on Palestinians.
The Amana settler group “is a significant part of the Israeli extremist settlement movement and has ties to various individuals previously sanctioned by the U.S. government and its allies for carrying out violence in the West Bank,” the Treasury Department said in a statement announcing the sanctions. Keeps.”
The sanctions also target Binyanei Bar Amana, a subsidiary of Amana, described by Treasury as a company that builds and sells homes in Israeli settlements and settler outposts.
The sanctions prevent Americans from having any transactions with Amana and freeze its US-owned assets. The United Kingdom and Canada have also imposed sanctions on Amana.
Israel has settled in the West Bank since occupying it during the 1967 Middle East War. Palestinians say the settlements undermine prospects for establishing a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, with East Jerusalem as its capital.
Israel views the West Bank as the Biblical Judea and Samaria, and settlers cite Biblical connections to the land.
Settler violence was on the rise before the Gaza war began, and has worsened since the conflict began a year ago.
Most countries consider the settlements illegal under international law, a position disputed by Israel which views the area as a security haven. In 2019, the then-Trump administration abandoned the long-standing US position that the settlements are illegal before being restated by President Joe Biden.
Last week, nearly 90 US lawmakers urged Biden to impose sanctions on members of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government over anti-Palestinian violence in the West Bank.
(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed – reuters,
- Place :
Washington DC, United States of America (USA)