Trump lifts US sanctions on Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank | News about the occupied West Bank
Israeli officials welcome Trump’s decision to lift sanctions imposed by the Biden administration.
United States President Donald Trump issued an executive order lifting sanctions against violent Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank.
Trump issued the order, among a series of controversial moves, upon returning to the White House on Monday. The sanctions were imposed by his predecessor, former President Joe Biden, through an executive order in February.
Biden’s actions paved the way for the US State Department and Treasury Department to sanction several far-right individuals and groups accused of perpetrating violence against Palestinians in the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967 in defiance of international law, by freezing their US assets and banning US entities and individuals from commercial relationships with them.
While much of the world’s attention is focused on the war in Gaza, growing violence by Israeli settlers against Palestinians in the West Bank and land grabbing in the occupied territory has raised concerns among some of Israel’s Western allies.
On Monday and Tuesday, the settlers set fire to vehicles and property under the protection of Israeli soldiers. At least 21 Palestinians were reported injured.
Since Israel’s war on Gaza began in October 2023, at least 860 Palestinians, including 175 children, have been killed and more than 6,700 wounded in attacks by the Israeli military and settlers across the West Bank, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
“The lifting of sanctions on extremist settlers encourages them to commit new crimes against our people,” the Palestinian Foreign Ministry said.
‘The USA has returned to us as friends’
Israeli officials welcomed Trump’s “historic decision” to lift sanctions.
Yossi Dagan, head of the northern West Bank Settlement Council, said the lifting of the “scandalous sanctions” was a “political message that the United States has become our friend again,” according to Israeli media.
“This is the correction of the injustice of many years, in which the US administration, as well as local elements who confused lovers with enemies, implemented a distorted policy,” said Itamar Ben-Gvir, a far-right former minister of national security on X .
His ally, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, said Trump’s stance showed his “deep connection to the Jewish people and our historic right to our land.”
“These sanctions were a serious act of blatant foreign interference in the internal affairs of the State of Israel and harmed the principles of democracy and mutual relations between two friendly countries,” he said.
The US sanctions against the settlers were imposed after the Biden administration repeatedly called on the Israeli government to take action to hold the settlers accountable for actions Washington believed undermined hopes for a two-state solution between Israelis and Palestinians.
Since the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, Israel has occupied the West Bank of the Jordan River, which the Palestinians want as the core of an independent state. Israel has built settlements there that are illegal under international law.
Israel disputes this and cites historical and biblical ties to the land.
