Paris: France’s foreign minister said on Monday that the European Union could soon launch a new round of sanctions against Israeli settlers accused of fueling violence in Palestinian territories.
France had already imposed sanctions against “28 violent settlers” and been instrumental in deciding sanctions at the European Union level, Jean-Noel Barrot told the Paris Peace Forum, an annual gathering dedicated to international dialogue.
The EU’s sanctions regime had already been activated twice, and “might be activated a third time soon,” he said.
“We are deeply attached to the security of Israel,” Barrot said, but “in the interest of Israel, of Israeli security, international law needs to be respected and justice needs to be reached.”
During a visit to the West Bank on Thursday, Barrot had already threatened a new round of sanctions, and renewed France’s commitment to a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Settlement activities “threaten the political perspective that can ensure durable peace for Israel and Palestine,” he said after talks with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas in Ramallah.
The United States, Britain, Canada and Australia have also imposed sanctions against extremist settlers.
The EU’s foreign affairs commissioner, Josep Borrell, said in August that Israeli settlers were endangering “any chance of peace” and called on the Israeli government to “stop these unacceptable actions immediately.”
Sanctions would also be aimed at the “enablers” of violent settler actions, “including some Israeli government members,” Borrell said.
Over 700 Palestinians in the West Bank have been killed by Israeli troops and settlers in the last year, according to the Ramallah-based health ministry.
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EU may launch new sanctions against Israeli settlers ‘soon’: France
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EU may launch new sanctions against Israeli settlers ‘soon’: France
- During a visit to the West Bank on Thursday, Barrot had already threatened a new round of sanctions
US heading to ‘authoritarianism’, warns Human Rights Watch
- HRW: US President Donald Trump has shown ‘blatant disregard for human rights and egregious violations’
WASHINGTON: Human Rights Watch warned Wednesday that President Donald Trump was turning the United States into an authoritarian state as democracy declines globally to its lowest ebb in four decades.
Trump’s return to the White House has intensified a “downward spiral” on human rights that was already under pressure from Russia and China, the New York-based advocacy and research group said in its annual report.
“The rules-based international order is being crushed,” HRW said.
In the United States, the group said, Trump has shown “blatant disregard for human rights and egregious violations.”
In descriptions that would have been unthinkable in the US section of its previous annual reports, the group pointed to the deployment of masked, armed agents — the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency — which has carried out “hundreds of unnecessarily violent and abusive raids.”
“The administration’s racial and ethnic scapegoating, domestic deployment of National Guard forces in pretextual power grabs, repeated acts of retaliation against perceived political enemies and former officials now critical of him, as well as attempts to expand the coercive powers of the executive and neuter democratic checks and balances, underpin a decided shift toward authoritarianism in the US,” the report said.
Human Rights Watch repeated its finding that the United States engaged in enforced disappearances — a crime under international law — by sending 252 Venezuelan migrants to a maximum-security prison in El Salvador.
Trump’s return to the White House has intensified a “downward spiral” on human rights that was already under pressure from Russia and China, the New York-based advocacy and research group said in its annual report.
“The rules-based international order is being crushed,” HRW said.
In the United States, the group said, Trump has shown “blatant disregard for human rights and egregious violations.”
In descriptions that would have been unthinkable in the US section of its previous annual reports, the group pointed to the deployment of masked, armed agents — the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency — which has carried out “hundreds of unnecessarily violent and abusive raids.”
“The administration’s racial and ethnic scapegoating, domestic deployment of National Guard forces in pretextual power grabs, repeated acts of retaliation against perceived political enemies and former officials now critical of him, as well as attempts to expand the coercive powers of the executive and neuter democratic checks and balances, underpin a decided shift toward authoritarianism in the US,” the report said.
Human Rights Watch repeated its finding that the United States engaged in enforced disappearances — a crime under international law — by sending 252 Venezuelan migrants to a maximum-security prison in El Salvador.
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