Britain issues sanctions targeting Israeli settler violence in the occupied West Bank

Oct. 15 (UPI) -- Britain sanctioned three illegal West Bank settler outposts and four related Israeli organizations on Monday, as London continues to clamp down on those committing violence against Palestinians in the occupied Palestinian territory, while criticizing Israel for its inaction.

Violence targeting Palestinians in the Israeli-Occupied West Bank has exploded amid Israel's war against Hamas, with the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs tallying about 1,450 attacks by Israeli settlers against Palestinians between Oct. 7, 2023, and Oct. 7 of this year.

It has become a growing issue of concern for Britain and the United States, which has also repeatedly condemned such violence as a threat to a two-state solution and has responded with sanctions of its own.

Both countries have also used the sanctions to criticize Israel for not taking action to curb the violence.

"When I went to the West Bank earlier this year, on one of my first trips as foreign secretary, I met with Palestinians whose communities have suffered horrific violence at the hands of Israeli settlers," Britain's foreign secretary, David Lammy, said Monday in a statement .

"The inaction of the Israeli government has allowed an environment of impunity to flourish where settler violence has been allowed to increase unchecked. Settlers have shockingly even targeted schools and families with young children."

The sanctions Britain announced Monday target Meitarim Outpost, whose founder, Yinon Levi, was designated by Washington and London in February, as well as the Tirzah Valley Farm Outpost and the Shuvi Eretz Outpost. All three have been accused of facilitating, inciting, promoting or providing support for activities that abuse the rights of Palestinians.

The four organizations hit were Od Yosef Chai Yeshiva, a religious school in the Yitzhar settlement accused of promoting violence against non-Jewish people; the non-governmental organization Hashomer Yosh; which provides volunteers for illegal outposts, including Meitarim; Israel-registered charity Torat Lechima, which has been documented providing financial support to illegal settler outposts associated with committing violence against Palestinians; and Amana, a commercial construction company that oversees the establishment of illegal outposts.

"Today's measures will help bring accountability to those who have supported and perpetrated such heinous abuses of human rights," Lammy said, while repeating his criticism of Israel's inaction.

"The Israeli government must crack down on settler violence and stop settler expansion on Palestinian land. As long as violent extremists remain unaccountable, the U.K. and the international community will continue to act."

Israel's occupation of the Palestinian territory and the establishment of settlements there are widely viewed as illegal under international law, and has attracted the repeated criticism and condemnation of the United Nations and the wider international community.

Greater attention has been placed on the West Bank amid Israel's yearlong war against Hamas as it has become a growing flashpoint of violence between Israelis and Palestinians.

Monday's sanctions, which include asset freezes and travel bans are the third batch from Britain and come during a month that sees the beginning of the olive harvest in the West Bank, which is an important cultural and economic time for Palestinians and often coincides with spiking settler violence.

According to the OCHA , citing the Food Security Sector, last year's olive harvest season in the occupied West Bank was marred by the war, which saw obstacles put in place on Palestinians farmers, resulting in acres of olives unharvested, and leading to a loss of 1,200 metric tons of olive and $10 million lost.