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Agence France-Presse

The United States on Wednesday announced new sanctions on West Bank settlers over violence against Palestinians, urging greater accountability efforts by its ally Israel, which responded with anger to the move.
The sanctions were announced on the same day that Israel launched a wide-scale attack on the West Bank that it said killed nine Palestinian fighters, despite warnings by President Joe Biden’s administration against expanding the war in Gaza.
“Extremist settler violence in the West Bank causes intense human suffering, harms Israel’s security and undermines the prospect for peace and stability in the region,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said in a statement.
“It is critical that the government of Israel hold accountable any individuals and entities responsible for violence against civilians in the West Bank,” he said.

The latest sanction targets included Hashomer Yosh, an Israeli group that has supported the unauthorised settler outpost of Meitarim Farm in the south Hebron Hills.
Volunteers from the group earlier this year fenced off a village whose 250 Palestinian residents had all been forced to leave, the State Department said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who relies on support from far-right politicians who advocate for the establishment of new settlements on Palestinian land, denounced the move.
“Israel views with utmost severity the imposition of sanctions on citizens of Israel. The issue is in a pointed discussion with the US,” Netanyahu’s office said in a statement.
Hashomer Yosh’s website, using the biblical name for the West Bank, says the group helps “various farmers throughout Judea and Samaria, who bravely protect our lands and stand strong in the face of economic difficulties and frequent agricultural crime”.
The Israeli settlements in the West Bank are illegal under international law.
The State Department also imposed sanctions against Yitzhak Levi Filant, who was accused of leading armed settlers in setting up roadblocks and patrols with a goal of attacking Palestinians.
Since Hamas’ unprecedented October 7 attack on Israel triggered war in Gaza, Israeli forces have also stepped up operations in the West Bank, a Palestinian territory occupied by Israel since 1967 and separated geographically from Gaza by Israeli territory.

At least 640 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank by Israeli troops or settlers since the start of the Gaza war, according to an Agence France-Presse count based on Palestinian official figures.
The Biden administration has repeatedly voiced concern to Netanyahu about settler violence and about the expansion of settlements, but has made little impact on the Israeli government’s decision-making.
Last month, the United States imposed sanctions on Lehava, a group of more than 10,000 members, which the State Department described as the “largest violent extremist organisation in Israel”.
US sanctions generally bar targets from the US financial system, leading Israeli banks to restrict dealings with sanctioned individuals for fear of repercussions.
The Biden administration, which has been pushing for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, has held off on imposing sanctions on government ministers leading the settlement policy.
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who also heads civil affairs at the defence ministry, earlier this month approved a new settlement on a Unesco World Heritage site near Bethlehem, saying he wanted to “fight against the dangerous project of creating a Palestinian state by creating facts on the ground”.


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Middle East

US slaps new sanctions on Israeli settlers over West Bank violence

Activists confront settlers on land in al-Makhrour in the occupied West Bank near Beit Jala village on August 22. Photo: AFP

Palestinians inspect the damage in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, on August 21, upon their return to the village after they were forced out by Israeli settlers. Photo: AFP

The funeral of Rashid Al-Sadeh, a Palestinian who was killed during an Israeli settlers’ attack in the village of Jeit, near Qalqilya, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on August 16. Photo: Reuters

Israel military rescues Hamas hostage, father of 11, from Gaza tunnel

Qaid Farhan Alkadi, right, and Brigadier General Itzik Cohen talk after his rescue. Photo: Israeli Defence Forces via AP

A helicopter at a site in Gaza, where hostage Qaid Farhan Alkadi was recovered. Photo: Israel Defence Forces via Reuters

Qaid Farhan Alkadi on a helicopter after his rescue. Photo: Israel Defence Forces via Xinhua

Qaid Farhan Alkadi exits a helicopter after his rescue. Photo: Israel Defence Forces via AFP

West Bank anti-eviction encampment rallies Palestinians, Israeli allies

A Palestinian man holds a national flag in front of Israeli military vehicles during an Israeli raid in the Tulkarm refugee camp in the northern West Bank, on Thursday, August 22, 2024. Three Palestinians were killed on Thursday in an Israeli bombing on a house in the Tulkarm refugee camp, according to the Palestinian official news agency WAFA. Photo: Xinhua

Israeli activists join Alice Kisiya, centre right, as they push on a gate erected by settlers, to try to enter her family’s land, after the Palestinian family was forcefully evicted by Israeli settlers backed by soldiers who declared it a closed military area, in the West Bank town of Beit Jala on Aug. 2, 2024. Photo: AP

Israeli activists join Palestinians to try to enter the Kisiya family’s land, in the West Bank town of Beit Jala on August 2, 2024. Photo: AP

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich. Photo: AP

Israeli settlers attack and injure foreign volunteers in occupied West Bank

A member of a group of foreign volunteers shows her US passport as she receives treatment at Nablus’s Rafidia Hospital, after an attack by Israeli settlers in Qusra village, occupied West Bank, on Sunday. Photo: AFP

Foreign volunteers, some from the US, receive treatment at Nablus’ Rafidia Hospital on Sunday. Photo:  AFP

A foreign volunteer receives treatment at Nablus’s Rafidia Hospital after an attack in Qusra village, occupied West Bank on Sunday. Photo: AFP

Israeli forces, armed settlers kill 3 Palestinians in rising West Bank violence

Mourners during the funeral of Palestinian Yazan Ishtayeh, who was killed in an Israeli raid near Nablus. Photo: Reuters

A Palestinian woman inspects the damage to her house after Israeli settlers attacked the village of al-Mughayyer, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, on Saturday. Photo: Reuters

Israeli settlers kill 1 Palestinian, wound 25, in West Bank rampage

People transport a man wounded in an Israeli settler attack on the village of al-Mughayyir to a hospital in Ramallah, in the Israeli occupied West Bank, on Friday. Photo: Reuters

Palestinians inspect the shattered vehicle of Mohammed Daraghmeh, a local Hamas commander who was killed in a shoot-out with Israeli soldiers in the West Bank village of Tamoun on Friday. Photo: AP

News

World

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he views ‘with utmost severity’ new sanctions imposed by Washington


Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he views ‘with utmost severity’ new sanctions imposed by Washington.
