OTTAWA: Canada is looking at imposing sanctions on Jewish settlers in the West Bank, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Friday, a day after US action against four Israeli men accused of being involved in violence in the occupied territory.

“We are looking into how to make sure that those responsible for extremist violence or extreme settler violence in the West Bank are held to account for it,” Trudeau told reporters in Waterloo, Ontario.

Since the 1967 Middle East war, Israel has occupied the West Bank of the Jordan River, which Palestinians want as the core of an independent state.

It has built Jewish settlements there that most countries deem illegal. The West Bank had already seen its highest levels of unrest in decades during the 18 months before Hamas’s Oct 7 raid, and confrontations there have risen sharply since Israeli forces invaded Gaza in October.

“Violence in the West Bank is absolutely unacceptable and puts at risk peace, stability in the region and the path towards a two-state solution that is absolutely essential,” Trudeau said.

His comments add to signs of the West’s growing displeasure with the policies of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. On Thursday, US President Joe Biden issued an executive order that aims to punish ill-behaved Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank, where Palestinians envisage a future state.

Britain, the European Union and more than a dozen partner countries have called on Israel to take immediate and concrete steps to tackle settler violence in the West Bank.

Published in Dawn, February 3rd, 2024