“This step is taken as the violence of [Zionist] settlers against the Palestinian people has increased in recent months and France once again strongly condemns this unacceptable violence”, Reuters cited a statement issued by the French foreign ministry.
Reuters reported that the names of those [settlers] blacklisted were not mentioned in the ministry's statement but it talked about illegal activities of the Zionist regime in the occupied Palestinian territories.
“According to international law, colonization is illegal and must be stopped. Its continuation is at odds with the creation of a stable Palestinian state. The formation of an independent Palestinian state is the only solution for Israelis and Palestinians to live together in peace and security”, the ministry underlined.
According to United Nations statistics, settler attacks almost on a daily basis have more than doubled since the Hamas’ Al-Aqsa Storm Operation and the launch of Israel’s genocidal war on the Gaza Strip on October 7, 2023.
A report released by Geneva-based Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor also showed the number of settlers’ attacks in the first half of 2023 reached 1,148, nearly equaling the total number of attacks recorded in the entire previous year.
European officials had expressed their growing concern over the increase in violence against Palestinians in the West Bank and Britain had previously imposed sanctions on several Zionist settlers.
In December, EU Foreign Policy Chief, Josep Borrell, also announced that the 27-member bloc would propose similar measures.
A joint statement by the foreign ministers of France, Poland and Germany on Monday said that settler violence against Palestinians is unacceptable and "must be sanctioned".
European diplomats have said that they hope to speed up the process after the bloc adopts measures against Israeli settlers’ violence.
Recently, Canada also joined the chorus of condemnations and said it would impose sanctions on Zionist settlers who incite violence against Palestinians in the occupied territories. “We have been investigating the perpetrators of extreme violence or the extreme settlers in the West Bank”, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said late last month.
The Canadian plan followed an announcement by the US Treasury Department that it imposed sanctioned on four Israeli settlers after Joe Biden issued an executive order targeting "those who undermine peace, security and stability in the West Bank."
Such measures sparked angry reactions from the Zionist regime that had been created in Occupied Palestine and nurtured by the same western countries.
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