Palestine calls for sanctions on Israel to dismantle violent settler groups

By Awad Rujoub

RAMALLAH, Palestine (AA) - Palestine on Tuesday called for imposing sanctions on Israel to compel Tel Aviv to dismantle violent settler groups in the occupied West Bank.

“An international action is urgently needed to pressure the Israeli government to dismantle the settler groups, disarm them, dry up their source of funding, and end their political cover,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

It also called for “placing all terrorist settler organizations and associations on international terror lists.”

“It’s not sufficient to only ban some settlers from entering the US or European countries but to list these settler groups on international terror list,” the ministry said.

Palestinians have complained of rising settler attacks amid growing tensions across the occupied West Bank.

At least 355 Palestinians have been killed and nearly 4,000 others injured in Israeli military raids and settler attacks in the West Bank since the outbreak of the conflict in the Gaza Strip on Oct. 7, according to figures released by the Health Ministry.

Several settler attacks against Palestinians were reported in several areas in the West Bank on Monday.

According to Palestinian figures, Israeli settlers carried out around 2,410 attacks against Palestinians and their properties in the West Bank in 2023.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar in Ankara