U.S. President Joe Biden on Thursday issued an executive order imposing new measures, including the use of sanctions, against those behind the violence in the West Bank, according to senior administration officials.
A U.S. official and people familiar with the matter told CNN that Biden called the settlers destabilizing the region. The new directive, which is expected to be announced on Thursday, will impose sanctions on several individuals accused of involvement in violent acts.
A senior government official said the order targeted four individuals accused of direct violence or intimidation in the West Bank, including those accused of initiating and leading riots;
The U.S. Department of State published a list of Israelis targeted by the executive order, which froze their financial assets and barred them from coming to the United States. They are David Chai Chasdai, Einan Tanjil, Shalom Zicherman and Yinon Levi.
An official said the White House had informed the Israeli government of their plans before the order was issued.
Officials said they had gathered evidence that they said could prove the role of the men in the violence in the West Bank and that could withstand judicial scrutiny, including information from publicly reported reports.
According to the U.S. State Department, Chasdé initiated and led a riot that included setting fire to vehicles and buildings, attacking Palestinian civilians, and causing damage to property in Huwara, resulting in the death of a Palestinian civilian.
A U.S. State Department fact sheet said Tangir was involved in attacks on Palestinian farmers and Israeli activists, attacking them with stones and sticks, causing injuries requiring medical treatment.
According to video evidence, Zichman attacked Israeli activists and their vehicles in the West Bank, blocking them in the street and attempting to break the windows of passing vehicles carrying activists. According to the State Department, he cornered two activists, resulting in injuries to two people.
According to the fact sheet, Levy led a group of settlers whose actions created a climate of fear in the West Bank. He regularly leads settler groups from outposts of Metallin Farms to attack Palestinian and Bedouin civilians, threatening them with more violence, burning their fields and destroying their property if they do not leave their homes, the report said. Other settlers at Levy and Metalin Farms have repeatedly attacked multiple communities in the West Bank.
It is unclear when these actions occurred. Biden has condemned these acts of violence in the past, and in recent months, Biden has personally discussed the issue with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Netanyahu's office said in a statement on Thursday that the sanctions were unnecessary. "Israel is acting against all lawbreakers around the world, so there is no room for special measures in this regard," the Prime Minister's Office said. He said the absolute majority of Israeli settlers in the West Bank are law-abiding citizens.
The order comes at a time when President Biden has faced strong opposition from key parts of his political coalition for his support of Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza. While the order is not expected to address the situation in Gaza, it will mark one of Biden's more important actions to criticize Israel since the war began after the Hamas terrorist attacks on October 7, and could be a signal from Biden as Muslim and Arab-American voters are unhappy with his refusal to call for a ceasefire.
Last December, Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced a new policy to prevent extremist Israeli settlers responsible for violence in the West Bank from coming to the United States. Blinken said at the time that the State Department could apply the policy to Israelis and Palestinians responsible for attacks in the West Bank.
U.S. State Department spokesman Matt Miller said at the time that eventually, the new policy is expected to affect dozens of people and possibly even their family members.
Settler violence against West Bank residents had been a major trigger in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict long before the Hamas attacks on 7 October. Last February, hundreds of Israeli settlers went on a rampage through the West Bank town of Huwara, and the ensuing violence was so brutal that Israeli military commanders in the West Bank called it a massacre.
Since 7 October, violence has intensified, and Palestinians fear retaliatory attacks. In the weeks following the Hamas attacks, dozens of Palestinians were killed in the West Bank as settler violence intensified.
An estimated 700,000 Israeli settlers live in the West Bank. It's unclear what specific acts the people targeted by Biden's executive order were involved in.
A senior administration official said Biden has raised settler violence in almost every diplomatic conversation with Israeli leaders.
"These actions pose a serious threat to peace, security and stability in the West Bank, Israel and the Middle East, and impede the eventual realization of an independent Palestinian State living side by side with Israel. Lasting peace and stability for Palestinians and Israelis," the official said.
On Thursday morning, before the executive order was issued, Biden spoke at a national prayer breakfast on Capitol Hill in which he acknowledged the suffering of Israelis and Palestinians. He said he understands the pain and passion felt by the United States and many people around the world about the trauma and destruction in Israel and Gaza.
"We cherish and pray for the lives taken and the families left behind," Biden said. For all the people living in deplorable conditions, innocent men, women and children, held hostage or bombed, or displaced, not knowing where the next meal will come from, or simply not knowing if it will come. ”
As of the beginning of the week, the total death toll in Gaza since October 7 had risen to 2,642 and 6,508 injured, according to the Hamas-controlled Gaza Ministry of Health. Hamas's initial attacks on Israel left more than 1,200 dead and more than 200 taken hostage.
"We not only pray for peace," he continued, "but we also actively work for the peace, security and dignity of the Israeli and Palestinian peoples." Biden said he is working day and night to bring home the hostages held by Hamas and is committed to alleviating the humanitarian crisis, bringing peace to Gaza and Israel, and achieving a lasting peace for both peoples.
Israel agreed to a ceasefire
Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesman Majid al-Ansari said on Thursday that Israel had agreed to a ceasefire proposal in the Gaza Strip and that the Palestinian movement Hamas had also reacted positively. Ansari told Al Jazeera: "Israel has agreed to the ceasefire proposal and we have received an initial positive response from Hamas. ”
On 24 November, Qatar brokered an agreement between Israel and Hamas on a temporary truce, the exchange of some prisoners and hostages, and the delivery of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip. The ceasefire agreement was extended several times and expired on 1 December. More than 100 hostages are believed to remain in Gaza held by Hamas.