US Secretary of State Antony Blinken today (Tuesday) announced a visa ban on "extremist settlers" who are accused of attacking Palestinian Arabs in Judea and Samaria.
“We have underscored to the Israeli government the need to do more to hold accountable extremist settlers who have committed violent attacks against Palestinians in the West Bank,” Blinken said. “As President Biden has repeatedly said, those attacks are unacceptable.”
He continued, “Today, the State Department is implementing a new visa restriction policy targeting individuals believed to have been involved in undermining peace, security or stability in the West Bank, including through committing acts of violence or taking other actions that unduly restrict civilians’ access to essential services and basic necessities.”
“Immediate family members of such persons also may be subject to these restrictions,” he noted.
“We also continue to engage with the Israeli leadership to make clear that Israel must take additional measures to protect Palestinian civilians from extremist attacks. We will also continue to engage the Palestinian Authority to make clear it must do more to curb Palestinian attacks against Israelis,” Blinken said, though no similar announcement of sanctions was made against people who attack Israelis.
“Both Israel and the Palestinian Authority have the responsibility to uphold stability in the West Bank,” Blinken said. “Instability in the West Bank both harms the Israeli and Palestinian people and threatens Israel’s national security interests.”
US President Joe Biden published an op-ed in The Washington Post last month revealing his intentions to impose such sanctions. “The United States is prepared to take our own steps, including issuing visa bans against extremists attacking civilians in the West Bank,” he wrote in the op-ed.
Biden stated: “I continue to be alarmed about extremist settlers attacking Palestinians in the West Bank. They’re attacking Palestinians in places that they’re entitled to be, and it has to stop. They have to be held accountable."