Canada announced on Thursday a new set of sanctions targeting Israeli settlers for “extremist violence” against Palestinian civilians in the West Bank.
This follows the country’s first-ever sanctions against settlers, implemented a month ago in coordination with Britain, France, the European Union, and the United States.
“Extremist settler violence has resulted in loss of life and damage to Palestinian property and farming lands,” the Canadian Foreign Ministry said in a statement, adding that settlers are “a long-standing source of tension and conflict in the region (that) undermine the human rights of Palestinians, prospects for a two-state solution and pose significant risks to regional security”.
This latest round of sanctions names seven individuals and five organizations accused of facilitating, supporting, or financially contributing to acts of violence by Israeli extremist settlers against Palestinian civilians and their property.
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The sanctioned individuals include Daniella Weiss, a veteran settler activist, and Ben Zion Gopstein, founder of the far-right and Jewish supremacist organization Lehava.
The organizations include Lehave itself, the Hilltop Youth, and the Amana Association, which promotes and constructs West Bank settlements and outposts.
The foreign ministry also reiterated in the statement that “Canada does not recognize permanent Israeli control over the territories occupied in 1967.”
“We remain deeply concerned by extremist settler violence in the West Bank and condemn such acts, not only for the significant impact they have on Palestinian lives, but also for the corrosive impact they have on prospects for lasting peace,” the Canadian Foreign Minister Mélanie Jolie commented.
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“We call on authorities to ensure the protection of civilians and hold perpetrators of such violence accountable,” she added.
Israel has occupied the West Bank, which is home to three million Palestinians, since 1967.
Estimates indicate that around 700,000 Israeli settlers live in roughly 300 illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.
All Jewish settlements in the occupied territories are considered illegal under international law.
(The Palestine Chronicle)
