Trump cancels sanctions on Israeli settlers in West Bank By Reuters

By Jonathan Landey and Humeira Pamuk

US President Donald Trump on Monday rescinded sanctions imposed by the former Biden administration on far-right Israeli settlers and individuals accused of violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, according to a new White House website.

The website says Trump rescinded Executive Order 14115, issued on February 1, 2024, which authorized certain sanctions against “persons who disturb the peace,

Security and Stability in the West Bank”.

Trump’s decision reverses a key policy of former President Joe Biden’s administration, which imposed sanctions on many Israeli settlers and organizations, freezing their American assets and banning Americans from doing business with them altogether.

As the world’s attention focuses on the war in Gaza, increased violence by Israeli settlers against Palestinians in the West Bank and land grabs in the occupied territory has raised concerns among some of Israel’s Western allies.

US sanctions against the settlers came after the Biden administration repeatedly urged the Israeli government to take action to prosecute extremists, which Washington says are undermining hopes for a two-state solution between Israelis and Palestinians.

Since the 1967 Middle East war, Israel has occupied the West Bank, which the Palestinians want as the core of an independent state. It has built Jewish settlements there, which many countries consider illegal, citing historical and biblical connections.

Trump’s approach to settlements was significantly different. During his first term in office in 2019, Trump abandoned the longstanding US position that the settlements were illegal before Biden reinstated it.

Israel Ganz, chairman of the Yesha Settlers’ General Council, which has close ties to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, told Reuters in October that he expected the sanctions to be lifted in the wake of Trump’s victory.