UK, Canada, France and Norway announce coordinated sanctions over West Bank settler violence

 Britain, Canada, France and Norway announced new coordinated sanctions on Tuesday against Israeli networks involved in financing, enabling and carrying out violence in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

The move follows ‌escalating violence by Israeli settlers, which diplomats say is intended to undermine prospects for a Palestinian state.

Hundreds of thousands of Israelis have settled among millions of Palestinians in land that Israel captured in a 1967 war. Nearly all countries and a range of U.N. bodies consider such settlements a violation of international law, although Israel disputes this, citing historical and biblical ties to the land.

The measures by the four countries were coordinated with sanctions already announced last week by Australia and New Zealand, underscoring anger in many Western countries towards Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, which has expanded settlements.

A joint statement by foreign ministers ⁠from the four countries as well as Australia said the steps aimed to "hold extremist settlers accountable for the horrific levels of settler violence against Palestinian civilians".

"We continue to urge the Government of Israel to take action to ensure meaningful accountability for violence in the West Bank," the statement added.

Israel's foreign ministry rejected the measures, and said the governments imposing them had failed to control antisemitism and were fuelling it with such sanctions.

Reuters