EU Sanctions on Israeli Settler Organizations Mark Important Step Toward Accountability and Enforcement of International Law The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates welcomed the European Union’s unanimous decision on Monday to adopt a new package of sanctions against a number of extremist Israeli settler organizations and individuals involved in supporting illegal settlement activities in the occupied West Bank, as well as backing escalating settler violence against the Palestinian people. The decision marks an important step toward strengthening accountability mechanisms and enforcing international law in the face of the colonial settlement system and settler terrorism, which continue to perpetrate daily crimes, theft, and attacks against Palestinian citizens, their property, land, and holy sites. The Ministry also welcomed the European positions reaffirming the illegality of Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem. It stated that imposing sanctions on organizations and individuals who lead, incite, and finance settler terrorism is a step in the right direction, but remains insufficient unless accompanied by practical and deterrent measures aimed at halting colonial settlement expansion and holding those responsible accountable. These measures, the Ministry noted, should include the full suspension of the EU-Israel Association Agreement, the activation of universal jurisdiction principles, the boycott of settlement products, and concrete measures to hold Israel and all parties involved in supporting and protecting the settlement system accountable. Furthermore, the Ministry called on EU member states to build on this step by imposing a comprehensive ban on dealings with the colonial settlement system in all its forms, preventing settlement products from entering European markets, and ending any direct or indirect support or cooperation with institutions and companies linked to settlement activities, in line with the EU’s legal and moral obligations. The Ministry reaffirmed that providing international protection for the Palestinian people, ending the Israeli occupation, and realizing the independent State of Palestine with East Jerusalem as its capital on the 1967 borders remain the only path toward achieving security, stability, and a just and lasting peace in the region.