EU and UK denounce Israeli settler violence against Palestinians in West Bank
The European Union and United Kingdom have issued statements calling for an end to Israeli settler violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank this week.
“We are appalled by the killing of five Palestinians in incidents of settler violence over the past week,” the British Consulate General in Jerusalem said in a statement posted on X.
It added that “Israeli security forces have described such violence as ‘unacceptable’” and called on them to follow with “swift, thorough investigations and accountability for those responsible”.
The EU issued similar comments on Tuesday, calling on Israeli authorities to take "immediate and effective action" and urging Israel to "abide by its obligations under international law to protect the Palestinian population in the occupied territory".
These diplomatic statements come after a sharp escalation in attacks and murders of Palestinians across the West Bank by Israeli settlers under the cover of Israel’s war on Iran.
On Thursday, Middle East Eye reported that at least six Palestinians had been killed in settler attacks in the past week.
Last Sunday, a group of 100 masked Israeli settlers descended on the town of Abu Falah in an attempt to displace the Palestinian residents. The attackers shot and killed Fara Hamayel, 57, and Thaer Hamayel, 30, and wounded several others, MEE reported.
On Friday, Wafa news agency reported that settlers stormed Hamza al-Fouqa in the Jordan Valley, attacking Palestinians and stealing 300 head of cattle, and paved a new road to escalate settlement activity in Northeast Ramallah.
Settler outposts in the West Bank are illegal under international law, as they violate Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which forbids occupying powers from transferring members of their population to the land they occupy.
Palestinian human rights organisations have revealed that settler violence has increased by 25 percent since the onset of the war on Iran.
On Thursday, 21 British and international civil society organisations called on the UK government to urgently “ban imports of any item which is wholly or partially produced in Israel’s illegal settlements”.
The letter followed a demand by 119 British MPs to increase sanctions on Israel and ban all trade with illegal settlements.
According to the civil society letter, the UK remains a primary destination for many settlement products, which is “crucial for the economic viability of the settlements” and “drives further settlement expansion”.
This article was sourced from Middle East Eye.
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