“France reaffirms its firm condemnation of this unacceptable violence. As we have stated on numerous occasions, it is the responsibility of the Israeli authorities to put an end to it and prosecute its perpetrators,” the ministry wrote in the press release. These 28 individuals are “targeted by an administrative ban from French territory”, adds the Quai d’Orsay, which said it was “working” on “the adoption of sanctions at European level” against violent settlers.
“Colonization is illegal under international law and must stop”
Washington and London have taken sanctions against “extremist settlers”, but the European Union, which must decide on them unanimously, has not yet managed to agree on the subject, due to opposition from countries like Hungary and the Czech Republic, according to diplomatic sources.
“Settlement is illegal under international law and must stop. Its continuation is incompatible with the creation of a viable Palestinian state, which is the only solution so that Israelis and Palestinians can live, side by side, in peace and security.” , still believes the Quai d’Orsay.
490,000 Israelis in West Bank in settlements deemed illegal
The United States and Europe are pleading in favor of a two-state solution, which is opposed by the Israeli government, engaged in a war against Palestinian Hamas in Gaza, after the bloody October 7 attack carried out by the Islamist movement in Israel.
This conflict has repercussions in the West Bank, a Palestinian territory occupied since 1967 by Israel, which has been shaken by an upsurge in violence since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
According to the Palestinian Authority, more than 380 Palestinians have been killed since then by Israeli soldiers or settlers in the West Bank. More than 2.9 million Palestinians live in the occupied West Bank, separated from the Gaza Strip by Israeli territory. Around 490,000 Israelis also live there, in settlements deemed illegal by international law.