The Spanish Government will as soon as possible approve sanctions against radical settlers accused of acts of violence against civilians in the West Bank, Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares announced today in Brussels, after the Twenty-Seven “unfortunately” failed to reach an agreement to act as a block in this direction. “We cannot afford to wait any longer. The situation in Gaza is catastrophic and dramatic, but the situation in the West Bank is also very tense,” argued the head of Spanish diplomacy. “I have made every possible effort to include as many countries as possible. In the end there were 26 of us, it was not possible for just one and what we are going to do is act individually, as other countries have already done.”
The high representative of EU Foreign Policy, Josep Borrell, proposed in December to the Twenty-Seven to adopt a double round of sanctions in response to the situation in the Middle East. On the one hand, restrictive measures against the financial network that supports Hamas and, on the other, against settlers accused of acts of indiscriminate violence against Palestinians in the West Bank, as the United States already does. While in just one month the European foreign ministers agreed on sanctions against the Islamic organization, which is included on the EU list of terrorist entities, the proposal to act against those involved in attacks on Palestinians has failed to meet still the necessary unanimity. The Czech Republic and Hungary are the countries that have expressed the most reservations towards the initiative, which Germany does support.
The measures that the Spanish Government is preparing to adopt will affect “a few dozen” people, Albares has announced. Those affected will be included on a list that will prevent them from accessing Spanish territory, a veto that if adopted at the European level would apply throughout the community. Last week, France already sanctioned 28 “extremist” Israeli citizens involved in acts of violence in the West Bank. Belgium, the Netherlands and Lithuania have also warned in recent days that if the EU is not able to act together, they will take measures on their own.
This is not the only measure of pressure on Israel debated today in Brussels. Albares and his Irish colleague, Micheál Martin, have defended the petition sent by their respective Governments to Borrell in which they request to review the association agreement that the EU maintains with Israel and analyze its compliance with Human Rights in light of the situation. in Gaza. Given the “urgency” of the situation, Borrell has been asked to present an analysis of the situation within a month. “We are facing an enormous humanitarian crisis that can spread if military operations extend to Rafah, something we do not want, and that has the potential to spread to the West Bank and Lebanon, which would give dimensions completely out of control for the different countries. of the Middle East,” Albares argued in statements to the press.
No other minister has spoken out to oppose the initiative, explained the minister, who hopes that the report will be ready at the Foreign Affairs Council that the EU will hold in March. Based on his conclusions, Borrell will ask the ministers for “political guidelines” on how to act. The Twenty-Seven may have several theoretical options before them: do nothing, suspend parts of the agreement (which they could agree to by a qualified majority) or its complete suspension (such an extreme, highly unlikely given the internal division over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, would ultimately fall , in the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen).