The United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, France, New Zealand and Norway have imposed coordinated sanctions targeting networks involved in financing, enabling and carrying out settler violence against Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

The move on Tuesday came in response to record illegal settlement expansion and rising violence by settlers in the West Bank, according to multiple statements.

“With our British, Canadian, Australian, New Zealand, and Norwegian partners, we are today imposing new sanctions against those responsible for intensifying colonisation and violence in the West Bank,” French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said in a post on social media.

After issuing the new sanctions, the six Western countries warned that they were prepared to take further measures if the Israeli regime failed to adequately address the situation on the ground.

Barrot noted that France has also banned Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, three leaders of settler groups and 21 settlers from entering the country over violence in the West Bank.

The Israeli regime’s foreign ministry denounced the sanctions shortly after they were announced, calling them “disgraceful measures”.

The UK regime urged British businesses and citizens to refrain from conducting financial activities in Israeli settlements in the West Bank deemed illegal under international law.

Amnesty International and Christian Aid criticized the sanctions as insufficient, calling for a full ban on trade and investment with settlements.

Source: www.aljazeera.com