The Palestinian Foreign Ministry has requested that all nations to sanction individuals associated with settler firms or businesses supporting illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories to their lists of people associated with terrorism.
The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates urged states to prosecute such entities or people and to bar them from entering their lands in a statement released on Sunday.
The ministry added that Israel’s ongoing violations of human rights are a result of an incitement campaign run by extremist ministers like Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich within the Israeli government.
The statement read: “The Israeli regime is desperately trying to cover up and legitimize the crimes of the occupying forces and seeks to give the international community the impression that the conflict over the occupied West Bank is between Palestinians and Israelis.
This occurs as the Israeli government continues to expand illegal settlements in the Palestinian territories despite protests from around the world. Extremist members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet have backed the policy.
The anti-settlement group Peace Now claimed earlier this month that in the first half of the current year, a record number of illegal units in settlements in the occupied West Bank had been advanced by Netanyahu’s far-right government.
In a statement, the Israeli human rights organization claimed that the Tel Aviv government had built 12,855 settler homes across the West Bank since January, the highest number it has tracked since it began keeping track of such activity in 2012.
A list of businesses connected to Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories has already been made public by the UN.
The database was described as “a very significant first concrete step by any UN entity towards holding to account Israeli and international corporations” by the global Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement, which is in favor of Palestine.
In a subsequent statement made on Sunday, the need for urgent international action to compel the Israeli government to halt the escalation in the occupied Palestinian territories was urged in order to prevent the situation from exploding.
The ministry urged the international community to enforce international law firmly with regard to the situation in Palestine and to take a tough stance against the crimes of Israel and the settlers.
The UN last month expressed grave concerns about the rising violence committed by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank and denounced it as “terrorism” against Palestinians.
Human rights organizations claim that violence committed by Israeli settlers against Palestinians and their property occurs frequently throughout the occupied West Bank.
Under the guise of apprehending Palestinians, it deems “wanted,” Israeli forces also conduct raids in a number of West Bank cities almost every day. Ordinarily, the raids result in tense encounters with the locals.
In 1967, Israel occupied the West Bank, which included the western sector of the holy city of al-Quds. The Palestinians want East al-Quds to be the capital of their future state, so it was later annexed.
Since then, more than 600,000 Israelis have migrated to more than 230 settlements located on occupied land. According to international law, all settlements are forbidden, and the UN Security Council has condemned them in a number of resolutions.
The West Bank will be a part of a future independent state with East al-Quds as its capital, according to the Palestinians.
