WASHINGTON – The authorities in the United States have informed Israel that a visa ban will be imposed on Israeli extremist settlers involved in violence against Palestinian civilians in the occupied West Bank.
A senior State Department official confirmed the imposition of the visa ban in the next few weeks against Israeli settlers, a move which is likely to irk Netanyahu’s administration.
The visa ban threat might not simply be a threat as the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and informed that Washington will take its own action against an undisclosed number of individuals.
Although the Palestinians have suffered at the hands of violence unleashed by Israel in recent weeks but those in the West Bank have experienced a surge of violence recently due to expanding Jewish settlements.
Reacting to the visa ban imposition, Israeli government spokesman Eylon Levy refused to comment on the matter but said that Israel firmly condemned any vigilantism or hooliganism or attempts by individuals to take the law into their own hands.
The visa ban imposition was also confirmed by President Joe Biden, who recently wrote in a Washington Post opinion piece that the violence must stop.
“I have been emphatic with Israel’s leaders that extremist violence against Palestinians in the West Bank must stop and that those committing the violence must be held accountable. The United States is prepared to take our own steps, including issuing visa bans against extremists attacking civilians in the West Bank,” Biden wrote.
The violence in Gaza in general and in West Bank in particular has spiked in recent weeks and the figures by the United Nations say that daily settler attacks have more than doubled.
Meanwhile, the ceasefire that ended on Friday has unleashed a fresh wave of violence in the region. As of now, more than 15,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israel despite calls by the rights groups to put an end to the violence and avoid targeting public health facilities.
