An official source has said that ministers of foreign affairs of 13 European Union countries have supported the introduction of sanctions against Israeli settlers in the West Bank.
While the source said that none of the foreign ministers of the 27 EU countries stated that they were against the move, only around half of them confirmed their support for imposing visa bans on Israeli settlers.
Commenting on the matter, the foreign policy chief of the European Union, Josep Borrell, said that the situation is very concerning and, at the same time, stressed that he will table a proposal on restrictions against Israeli settlers soon.
Borrell said that once a set of measures is adopted, the restrictions will affect people who are known for their violent actions and attacks against Palestinians in the West Bank.
The same said after the meeting held in Brussels on Monday that the time has come to move forward with actions and not words. Borrell further said that the measures need to be adopted as soon as possible.
We will be proposing sanctions against these persons in the context of the instruments we have at our disposal.
As EUobserver explains, of all the EU countries supporting restrictions on Israeli settlers, Ireland and Belgium have been the most vocal.
Tánaiste and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ireland, Micheál Martin, just recently said that his country is “very open” to imposing a travel ban on Israeli settlers.
Speaking before the meeting of the EU Foreign Minister, Martin urged EU leaders to call for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza.
Martin further said that he is very worried about the violence by Israeli settlers in the West Bank and highlighted that Ireland believed that strict sanctions need to be imposed as soon as possible.
In addition to the above-mentioned, Martin said that Ireland wants to push the EU to impose restrictions on the “extreme terrorist settlers on the West Bank” as an entity.
The situation we are seeing on the ground demands our reaction, and we should respond to what we are seeing also in the West Bank and progress EU sanctions against violent settlers.
French Minister of Foreign Affairs Catherine Colonna also said that the situation in the West Bank is very worrying. Minister Colonna further stressed that there are too many cases of violence committed by “extremist settlers”.
Other EU countries, such as Germany and Italy, have also supported restrictions against Israeli settlers. They think that visa bans should be imposed on them.
