“SCANT ACCOUNTABILITY”
France also banned four leaders of settler organisations and 21 violent settlers.
France’s sanctions were in coordination with Britain, Canada, Australia, Norway and New Zealand targeting “those responsible for the escalation of settlement activity and violence in the West Bank”, Barrot said.
Israel’s foreign ministry quickly condemned the sanctions as “disgraceful”.
“The real essence of these steps is the attempt to impose a political stance regarding the right of Jews to settle in the Land of Israel and concerning the Israeli-Palestinian conflict — camouflaged as measures against violence,” ministry spokesman Oren Marmorstein said.
Norway said it would adopt the same sanctions as those announced by the European Union on May 28, as well as impose an entry ban targeting “20 violent settlers”, without naming them.
Along with sanctions against “networks financing and enabling settler attacks against Palestinians in the West Bank”, the United Kingdom also urged British businesses and citizens to refrain from conducting financial activities in Israeli settlements deemed illegal under international law.
“We believe that violent settler groups should not be profiting from the land that they have seized from Palestinians,” Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper told parliament.
The Israeli “government has condemned some settler violence, but that rings hollow when there is scant accountability”, she added.
