Amman, June 9 (Petra) -- Britain, alongside the foreign ministers of Canada and Norway, announced coordinated punitive measures targeting "funding and enabling networks behind settler attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank." According to a EuroNews report cited by a British government statement on Tuesday, these sanctions come in response to "unprecedented settlement expansion and a surge in settler violence." British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper stated that "settlement expansion and associated violence are illegal, posing a fundamental threat to the viability of a two-state solution and to lasting peace and security for both Palestinians and Israelis." She noted that the sanctions aim to disrupt the financial flows that have allowed extremist settler groups to operate with impunity.

France joined the diplomatic move, with Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot announcing a ban on Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, four settler leaders, and 21 violent settlers from entering French territory.

Barrot wrote on X: "In coordination with our British, Canadian, and Norwegian partners, we are implementing a new sanctions package today targeting those responsible for escalating settlements and violence in the West Bank. At the French level, we have barred Smotrich from setting foot on French soil, alongside four leaders of settler groups and twenty-one violent settlers." Criticizing Smotrich's policies, Barrot pointed out that the Israeli minister "is making intensive efforts and publicly calling for the annexation of the West Bank, the establishment of new settlements there, the resettlement of the Gaza Strip, and pushing the Palestinian Authority toward economic collapse." //Petra// AF