Stephane Sejourne, the French Foreign Minister, has stated that the violence by illegal Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank “must stop.”

This came as he met his Israeli counterpart, Israel Katz, as part of his tour of the middle East.

He also called for a stop to “the equally violent comments which sow hatred of the Palestinians.”

“These comments are becoming more and more numerous in Israel and they are being relayed by political leaders. We find this serious,” Sejourne said.

Speaking about the forced displacement of Palestinians, the French Foreign Minister said that it is not acceptable “under no circumstances” neither from Gaza nor from the West Bank.

“The future of the Gaza Strip is inseparable from that of the West Bank. We must prepare for this future by supporting the Palestinian Authority. It must renew itself and redeploy as soon as possible in the Gaza Strip. I repeat, Gaza is Palestinian land.”
Stephane Sejourne

Sejourne demanded “respect for international humanitarian law by all, an immediate and lasting ceasefire, and a massive influx of humanitarian aid.”

On his part, Israel’s Foreign Minister, Israel Katz thanked his French counterpart for France’s support for Israel and for suspending funding for UNRWA.

In the meeting between the two in Jerusalem, Katz claimed that his country was working to find alternatives to UNRWA in the Gaza Strip.

Katz also said that “time is running out” to reach a diplomatic solution in south Lebanon, as tensions flare with daily cross-border fire between Lebanon’s Hezbollah armed group and Israel.

“Israel will act militarily to return the evacuated citizens” to its northern border area if no diplomatic solution is reached to end the violence, Katz was quoted as telling Sejourne.

According to the UN humanitarian agency OCHA, families inside and outside shelters in Rafah and Khan Younis are in need of 50,000 cold weather tents, 200,000 bedding sets, 200,000 sealing-off kits, 200,000 winter clothing kits, and timber to support the displaced in establishing self-built shelters.

“One of the challenges that displaced people face is the lack of hand tools to prepare the location of their tents and to protect them from rain and floods,” the agency said, as Israeli prevents hand tools from entering the besieged enclave.

Israeli Banks Heed U.S Anti-Settler Sanctions

Israeli banks disclosed that they are heeding U.S sanctions against four illegal Israeli settlers accused of violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, despite calls by the finance minister and another far-right cabinet member not to comply.

“Evading such sanctions regimes can expose banks to significant risks, including compliance risks, money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism risks, legal risks, and reputation risks,” the Israeli central bank said in a statement.

Hapoalim POLI.TA, one of Israel’s two largest banks, said that it respects international sanctions and will comply with any legal order – though it declined to discuss any specific cases.

Meanwhile, Moayad Shaaban, who heads the committee that focuses on the Israeli separation wall and illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank, told a news agency that the violence against Palestinians has risen “because settlers have more powers than ever before, and because there is no accountability for their ongoing violations.”

Shaaban said that since the beginning of this year, the committee has documented 186 settler attacks, most of which took place in Hebron, Jerusalem and Nablus.

Violence has also been perpetrated in another manner, Shaaban said, with settlers stealing cattle from Palestinian shepherds and imposing heavy fines on them to get their animals back.

“It’s yet another restriction on Palestinians that Israelis hope would lead to their displacement,” he said.