France imposes sanctions on settlers in the West Bank, joining the US and Britain.

France on Tuesday imposed sanctions on dozens of Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank, accusing them of committing acts of violence against Palestinians. It was one of the largest series of punishments yet imposed on Israelis in the West Bank and follows restrictions imposed by Britain and the US on four settlers this month.

The French Foreign Ministry said it had banned 28 settlers from entering France or any of its territories, and called on the Israeli government to take legal action against them.

The French government said the West Bank settlements are illegal under international law and incompatible with the creation of a Palestinian state, a position held by many countries but which Israel disputes. Israel's Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to the French government's statement, which did not specify which individuals are subject to sanctions.

Since October 7, when Hamas-led attacks on Israel ignited the war in Gaza, Jewish settlers have increased the pace of unauthorized moves to expand their footprint in the West Bank, according to a report last month by Peace Now, an Israeli advocacy group.

Settlers have cordoned off open areas in the part of the West Bank under full Israeli control to deter Palestinian herders, the report said, adding that several settler outposts and roads are on privately owned Palestinian land, which in is contrary to Israeli law. law.

The settler raids have increased tensions in the West Bank, where violence and Israeli military attacks were on the rise even before the war broke out. Palestinian militias have carried out shooting attacks on Israelis. Extremist Israeli settlers have swept through Palestinian villages and set fire to property. The Israeli army has conducted regular raids that have often turned deadly, with thousands of people arrested.

Great Britain Monday sanctions imposed involving financial and travel restrictions on four Israeli settlers in the West Bank, in what they said was an “attempt to address ongoing settler violence that threatens stability in the West Bank.”

On February 1, the United States had imposed financial sanctions four men it said they were linked to “escalating violence against civilians in the West Bank.”

The Jerusalem Post reports this that Israeli financial institutions had frozen the bank accounts of the four men who had been placed or were in the process of being placed there, and that there could be broader implications of the sanctions if they made international institutions suspicious that dealings with Israel could inadvertently implicate them in evading sanctions.

Canada has also said it will impose sanctions on Israeli settlers inciting violence in the West Bank.

The governing coalition that came to power under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in December 2022 is the most right-wing and religiously conservative government in the country's history. It supports settlement expansion and includes extremist settlers who want to annex all or part of the West Bank. Israel has in the past retroactively authorized settlements it previously considered illegal.

Most countries consider the construction of settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem to be a violation of international law. Israel captured the West Bank, as well as East Jerusalem and Gaza, from Jordan in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. Palestinians see that land as part of a future independent state, which is becoming less and less viable due to settler expansion.

The settler population grew 3 percent last year to about 517,000, and has grown more than 15 percent in the past five years. This is evident from a report based on Israeli government figures, published by a pro-settler group, West Bank Population Stats.com. By comparison, about three million Palestinians live in the West Bank, which includes Samaria and Judea.