BRUSSELS: The EU’s top diplomat Josep Borrell said Friday he would propose sanctions against Israeli government “enablers” of Jewish settler violence, following a deadly attack on a village in the occupied West Bank.
“Day after day, in an almost total impunity, Israeli settlers fuel violence in the occupied West Bank, contributing to endanger any chance of peace,” Borrell posted on X.
“The Israeli government must stop these unacceptable actions immediately,” he wrote, vowing to “table a proposal for EU sanctions against violent settlers’ enablers, including some Israeli government’s members.”
Any such sanctions would require unanimous approval from the EU’s 27 member states, who are divided over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The White House has condemned as “unacceptable” Thursday’s attack on Jit, near Nablus, in which the Palestinian Authority said one Palestinian was killed and another wounded. Israeli President Isaac Herzog called it a “pogrom.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office meanwhile said he “takes seriously the riots” and pledged to catch and prosecute the perpetrators.
Violence in the West Bank, a Palestinian territory occupied by Israel since 1967 and separated from the Gaza Strip by Israeli territory, has surged since the Gaza war started on October 7.
Since then, hundreds of Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank by the Israeli army or settlers, according to an AFP count based on official Palestinian data.
Israeli settlement in the occupied West Bank — considered illegal under international law — has also hit new records.
Netanyahu, head of the conservative Likud party, has governed Israel since December 2022 with the support of far-right formations advocating more Israeli settlements in the West Bank or even outright annexation.
EU’s top diplomat to propose sanctioning Israeli officials over ‘violent settlers’
https://arab.news/48van
EU’s top diplomat to propose sanctioning Israeli officials over ‘violent settlers’
- Since the war on Gaza, hundreds of Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank by the Israeli army or settlers
Backlash as Australia kills dingoes after backpacker death
- The euthanization program has stirred debate about how to manage the local population of dingoes
- Wildlife experts said killing the animals was the wrong response and may threaten the island’s dingo population
SYDNEY: Australian authorities have sparked a backlash by killing a group of dingoes linked to the death of a young Canadian woman on an island in the country’s east.
The Queensland government said six animals were put down after 19-year-old backpacker Piper James’s body was found on January 19 at a beach on the World Heritage-listed island of K’gari.
The euthanization program has stirred debate about how to manage the local population of dingoes, a sandy-colored canine believed to have first arrived in Australia 4,000 to 5,000 years ago.
An autopsy conducted on James’ body found evidence “consistent with drowning” but also detected injuries corresponding to dingo bites.
“Pre-mortem dingo bite marks are not likely to have caused immediate death,” said a spokesperson for the Coroners Court of Queensland.
The coroner’s investigation into the cause of death was expected to take several weeks.
In response, the Queensland government said a pack of 10 dingoes involved would be euthanized after rangers had observed some “aggressive behavior.”
Six of the dingoes had already been euthanized, the state’s environment minister, Andrew Powell, told reporters Sunday.
“Obviously, the operation will continue,” he said.
The traditional owners of K’gari, the Butchulla people, said the state’s failure to consult with them before euthanizing the dingoes — or wongari in their language — was “unexpected and disappointing.”
“Once again, it feels as though economic priorities are being placed above the voices of the people and traditional owners, which is frustrating and difficult to accept,” the Butchulla Aboriginal Corporation said in a statement to Australian media this week.
‘You are food’
Wildlife experts said killing the animals was the wrong response and may threaten the island’s dingo population, estimated at just 70-200 animals.
Given their small numbers, killing a pack of 10 animals would harm the population’s genetic diversity, said Mathew Crowther, professor of quantitative conservation biology at the University of Sydney.
“There’s no moral from the dingoes’ point of view. They’re just being wild animals, doing wild things,” Crowther said.
Dingoes tend to lose their fear of people as they interact with tourists, some of whom defy advice against feeding the animals.
“That’s the worst thing you can do to a wild animal,” Crowther said.
“They just relate humans to food, and if you don’t give them food, well, you are food — that’s basically how it is.”
Dingoes are wild, predatory animals and need to be treated with respect, said Bill Bateman, associate professor in the school of molecular and life sciences at Curtin University.
The canines are more likely to attack children or people who are alone, and may be triggered when people turn their backs or run, he said.
“These are important animals, and therefore we need to change the way we deal with them, otherwise we’re just going to keep reacting to these attacks and driving the population of dingoes down,” Bateman said.
Wildlife managers, rangers, Indigenous people and tourism operators need to work together so that humans and dingoes can coexist on the island, he said.
Todd James, the father of Piper, has described on social media how his family’s hearts were “shattered” by her death.
News of the dingoes’ euthanization was “heart-wrenching,” he told Australian media, adding however that he recognized it may be necessary for safety because of the pack’s behavior.
