Amman, June 9 (Petra) — Britain, alongside the foreign ministers of
Canada and Norway, announced coordinated punitive measures targeting
“funding and enabling networks behind settler attacks on Palestinians
in the West Bank.”

According to a EuroNews report cited by a British government
statement on Tuesday, these sanctions come in response to
“unprecedented settlement expansion and a surge in settler violence.”

British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper stated that “settlement
expansion and associated violence are illegal, posing a fundamental
threat to the viability of a two-state solution and to lasting peace
and security for both Palestinians and Israelis.” She noted that the
sanctions aim to disrupt the financial flows that have allowed
extremist settler groups to operate with impunity.

France joined the diplomatic move, with Foreign Minister Jean-Noël
Barrot announcing a ban on Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich,
four settler leaders, and 21 violent settlers from entering French
territory.

Barrot wrote on X: “In coordination with our British, Canadian, and
Norwegian partners, we are implementing a new sanctions package today
targeting those responsible for escalating settlements and violence
in the West Bank. At the French level, we have barred Smotrich from
setting foot on French soil, alongside four leaders of settler groups
and twenty-one violent settlers.”

Criticizing Smotrich’s policies, Barrot pointed out that the Israeli
minister “is making intensive efforts and publicly calling for the
annexation of the West Bank, the establishment of new settlements
there, the resettlement of the Gaza Strip, and pushing the
Palestinian Authority toward economic collapse.”

//Petra// AF