Trump reverses on sanctions targeting Israeli settlers in West Bank
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US President Donald Trump removes sanctions imposed on Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank, reversing a Biden-era policy.
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Israeli occupation forces vehicles are seen during a military operation in the West Bank city of Jenin, occupied Palestine, Tuesday, January 21, 2025 (AP)
US President Donald Trump rescinded sanctions imposed by the previous Biden administration on far-right Israeli settler groups and individuals over their involvement in violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank. The decision was announced on the newly launched White House website.
The website confirmed that Trump revoked Executive Order 14115, issued on February 1, 2024. This order authorized sanctions targeting individuals and entities accused of undermining peace, security, and stability in the West Bank.
The move marks a significant reversal of a major policy under former President Joe Biden, whose administration imposed sanctions on numerous settler individuals and organizations. The sanctions froze US-based assets and prohibited Americans from engaging in financial dealings with those on the sanctions list.
The decision comes amid heightened international concern over rising violence by Israeli settlers against Palestinians in the West Bank, as well as ongoing Israeli settlement expansion in the occupied territory. These actions have drawn criticism from some of the Israeli occupation's Western allies, even as global attention remains focused on the war in Gaza.
The Biden administration's sanctions were part of efforts to pressure the Israeli occupation to hold extremist settlers accountable, arguing that such actions undermined prospects for a "two-state solution".
Trump's stance on settlements has been notably different. During his first term in 2019, he abandoned the long-standing US position that Israeli settlements in the West Bank are illegal, a policy later reinstated by Biden.
Israeli settler leaders had anticipated the sanctions would be overturned if Trump returned to office. Israel Ganz, chairman of the Yesha Council, which represents settler communities, told Reuters in October that he expected the sanctions to be lifted under a Trump administration were he to be reelected.
Biden's sanctions
On February 1st, President Biden issued an executive order granting the US the authority to levy fresh sanctions on Israeli settlers implicated in violent assaults against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, and potentially against Israeli politicians and government officials as well.
The initial set of sanctions, pursuant to the new executive order, targeted four Israeli settlers accused by the US of direct involvement in assaults on Palestinians in the West Bank and orchestrating actions that resulted in the forced displacement of Palestinian communities.
Following this, the United Kingdom, France, and Canada have declared their intention to impose comparable sanctions.
Initially, the Israeli occupation's government and settler organizations reacted with minimal concern to Biden's executive order, perceiving it as primarily symbolic in nature.
