Joe Biden to issue executive order sanctioning violent Israeli settlers in West Bank

Amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, US President Joe Biden intends to issue an executive order targeting violent Israeli settlers in the West Bank for "compromising stability" in the region, CNN reported.

A number of people who are said to have taken part in the violent activities may face penalties under the new directive, which is likely to be announced on Thursday.

In the past, Biden has denounced these violent attacks, and he even has directly raised the matter with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Before releasing the executive order on Thursday morning, Biden spoke at the National Prayer Breakfast on Capitol Hill and acknowledged the pain that both Israelis and Palestinians endure. In reaction to the "trauma, the destruction in Israel and Gaza," The POTUS said he understood the "pain and passion felt by so many here in America and around the world."

“We value and pray for the lives taken and for the families left behind,” the US President said. “For all those who are living in dire circumstances, innocent men, women and children, held hostage or under bombardment, or displaced not knowing where the next meal will come from, or if it will come at all.”

Also Read: Hamas on Palestinian state after Israel war: ‘Why is Joe Biden preaching’

Who all will be targetted?

According to a senior administration official, the order will target four people who are accused of directly committing acts of violence or intimidation in the West Bank. These people include those who are accused of starting and leading riots, setting fire to cars, buildings, and fields, as well as attacking people and causing property damage, the reported stated.

According to an official, the White House informed the Israeli government of their intentions prior to the directive.

The order would forbid Americans from financing or otherwise providing financial support to the individuals, as well as ban their property and financial transactions within the country.

Last year in November, Biden instructed top US officials to come up with plans for dealing with violent Israeli settlers. The memo that was distributed to Cabinet members, including Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Secretary of State Antony Blinken, provided a broad definition of potential targets.

Following this, Blinken unveiled a new strategy in December aimed at preventing violent Israeli settlers from extremist groups that are responsible for violence in the West Bank from entering the country.

Blinken stated at the time that the State Department may apply the policy to both Israelis and Palestinians who carried out attacks in the West Bank. He, however, did not specify how many individuals will be included in the first round of restrictions.

Meanwhile, State Department spokesman Matt Miller said the new regulation will probably “impact dozens of individuals and potentially their family members.”

Also Read: Israeli forces dressed as women, medics kill 3 militants in West Bank hospital

Israeli settler violence has surged since Oct 7 Hamas attack

Around 700,000 Israeli settlers reside in the West Bank. Israeli settler violence against West Bank Palestinians has been a major source of tension in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The violence that broke out when hundreds of Israeli settlers stormed through the West Bank hamlet of Huwara in February was so severe that the Israeli military commander over the West Bank had to call it a "pogrom."

There has been a noticeable increase in violence after the Hamas attack on Israel. In the weeks that followed the Hamas attack, settler violence in the West Bank escalated and resulted in the deaths of numerous Palestinians.

According to the Hamas-controlled health ministry in Gaza, the death toll in the territory has surged to 26,422, with 65,087 injuries. After the Hamas' brutal attack on Israel, almost 1,200 people were killed.

Biden to make push for demilitarised Palestine

New York Times' Thomas Friedman on Thursday reported that Biden administration is also focusing on a new policy that calls for an extraordinary push to expeditiously accelerate the establishment of a Palestinian state that is both demilitarised and viable.

The plan, Friedman wrote, “would involve some form of US recognition of a demilitarized Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip that would come into being only once Palestinians had developed a set of defined, credible institutions and security capabilities to ensure that this state was viable and that it could never threaten Israel.”

White House officials “have been consulting experts inside and outside the US government about different forms this recognition of Palestinian statehood might take,” revealed Friedman.