Sanctions on Israeli settlers: Quote from MEPs Vieira & Søvndal

Today, ministers at the Foreign Affairs Council (FAC) agreed to impose sanctions on Israeli extremist settlers in the West Bank.

MEP Catarina Vieira, Greens/EFA Coordinator in the Committee for Human Rights (DROI) and Member of the Trade Committee (INTA), comments:

"The sanctions agreed today are long overdue and necessary. Settlers and those enabling settlement violence should face consequences. But the EU still refuses to confront the core contradiction of its own policy: the settlements are illegal under international law, yet trade with them continues. As long as we do not make use of our trade tools, we are not doing enough. The Council can and should do more."

MEP Villy Søvndal, Greens/EFA Member in the Committee for Foreign Affairs (AFET), comments:

“I am happy to finally see a movement towards sanctions. But it is too little – too late. The settler movement is part of the government and the military. There is no security for the Palestinians – neither in the West Bank, East Jerusalem or Gaza. There is no accountability for Israel, which has been clear for many years, but the last couple of years it has become unbearable to witness our total inability to live up to the ICJ rulings and also article 2 in the EU-Israel association agreement. Israel is clearly violating human right.”