After warning Israel about West Bank violence, the US announces visa bans
Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced a new policy in a statement on Tuesday: anyone who undermines peace, safety, or stability in the occupied West Bank will not be granted a visa by the US State Department.
According to Blinken, the limitations may also apply to the relatives of those who have engaged in violent acts or taken other measures that prevent civilians from accessing necessities and services.
With the increase in violence by Israeli settlers against Palestinians in the West Bank following Hamas' attack on Israel on October 7, President Joe Biden and other senior U.S. officials have cautioned Israel multiple times to take action.
In the West Bank, radical settlers have attacked Palestinians with violence, and we have made the Israeli government aware of the need to take stronger action to hold them accountable, Blinken said.
Blinken informed officials last week during meetings in Israel that Washington was prepared to act with our own authorities.
A spokesperson for the State Department, Matthew Miller, informed reporters that the new policy would affect dozens of people in the end and that the first bans under it would be implemented on Tuesday. Additional designations will be made in the next few days.
Miller stated that any targeted Israeli with a valid U.S. visa would receive notification that their visa has been called off.
According to a senior State Department official, Israel has not yet taken any concrete steps toward prosecuting those accountable for the violence in the West Bank, despite US demands.
Blinken added that the Palestinian Authority also needed to do more to stop Palestinian attacks against Israelis. Washington would keep up its engagement with the Israeli leadership, he said, making it clear that Israel needs to take further precautions to shield Palestinian civilians from extremist attacks.
Israel has held the West Bank, which the Palestinians desire to be the center of their own sovereign state, since the Middle East War in 1967. There, it constructed Jewish settlements that are considered illegal by most nations. Israel disputes this, pointing to biblical and historical connections to the region.
U.N. figures indicate that since Hamas, which governs the autonomous Palestinian enclave of Gaza, killed 1,200 Israelis and kidnapped approximately 240 others, the number of daily settler attacks has more than doubled. Subsequently, Israel has attacked and bombed Gaza, resulting in over 15,000 fatalities.
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