Pressure from EU member states to impose sanctions has increased in recent months amid escalating settler violence.<\/p>\n
Published On 13 Jul 202613 Jul 2026<\/p>\n
The European Union\u2019s foreign ministers are meeting in Brussels to discuss imposing sanctions on Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.<\/p>\n
Pressure from EU member states to impose sanctions has increased in recent months due to escalating violence by Israeli settlers against Palestinians and their property and the Israeli government\u2019s continued expansion of settlements, which are illegal under international law.<\/p>\n
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A senior EU diplomat said the European Commission drafted a paper outlining possible approaches and many options are on the table on Monday, including an import licensing system, prohibitive tariffs or a ban, the Reuters news agency reported.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverybody agrees that the situation in the West Bank is really intolerable,\u201d\u00a0 EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said at the start of the meeting in Brussels.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat is happening in the West Bank is actually making it more and more impossible that the two-state solution ever can come into effect,\u201d Kallas said.<\/p>\n
Speaking on condition of anonymity, a diplomat told Reuters: \u201cI \u2060think what you will see on Monday is a discussion on the options, and we will get a bit of a \u2060picture of where everybody is.\u201d<\/p>\n
Diplomats said they did not expect a formal decision on any particular measure but the meeting would help to sound out if there is enough support to move forward.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s lack of unity in Brussels as to whether any penalty would need backing from all 27 member states or just a weighted majority.<\/p>\n
Some diplomats said banning trade with Israeli settlements would require a qualified majority of at least 15 EU states, representing 65 percent of the bloc\u2019s population.<\/p>\n
But the commission\u2019s paper suggested it believes a ban could require unanimous support, a \u200cbar \u200cthe bloc would be highly unlikely to clear.<\/p>\n
Spain, Ireland and Belgium have called for severe sanctions to be imposed on Israel due to its settlement policy while others, including Germany and Italy, are undecided on such a step.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere have been a lot of asks and requests from the member states regarding the ban of the trade with illegal settlements,\u201d Kallas said.<\/p>\n
\u201cLet\u2019s see if these options that have been provided now will have a stronger push from member states,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n
Illegal settlements<\/p>\n
Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967. More than 500,000 Israeli settlers live in the territory, excluding occupied East Jerusalem, among about three million Palestinians.<\/p>\n
In a July 2024 advisory opinion, the International Court of Justice said Israel\u2019s occupation of Palestinian lands and its settlements in the West Bank are illegal and states should take steps to prevent trade or investment relations that help maintain the situation.<\/p>\n
Ireland, the Netherlands and Spain have already imposed their own trade restrictions on Israeli settlements.<\/p>\n
Israel rejects this, viewing the territory as disputed and saying a Jewish presence has existed there for thousands of years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pressure from EU member states to impose sanctions has increased in recent months amid escalating settler violence. Published…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":28543,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5],"tags":[18,69,3165,487,144,488],"class_list":["post-28542","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brussels","tag-brussels","tag-europe","tag-israel","tag-middle-east","tag-news","tag-palestine"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@be\/116913360431533496","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28542","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28542"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28542\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28543"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28542"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28542"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28542"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}