* As Far-right extremist land grabbers intensify attacks on Palestinians in their homes
US President Donald Trump on Monday rescinded sanctions imposed by the former Biden administration on far-right Israeli settler groups and individuals involved in violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, the new White House website said.
The website said Trump rescinded Executive Order 14115 issued on Feb. 1, 2024, which authorized the imposition of certain sanctions “on Persons Undermining Peace, Security, and Stability in the West Bank.”
Trump’s decision is a reversal of a major policy action by former President Joe Biden’s administration which had slapped sanctions on numerous far-right Israeli settler individuals and entities, freezing their US assets and generally barring Americans from dealing with them.
As much of the world’s attention has focused on the war in Gaza, growing violence by extremist Israeli settlers against Palestinians in the West Bank and land grabs in the occupied territory have raised concern among some of Israel’s Western allies.
US sanctions on settlers landed after the Biden administration repeatedly urged the Israeli government to take action to hold extremists to account for actions that Washington believes set back hopes for a two-state solution between Israelis and Palestinians.
Since the 1967 Middle East war, Israel has occupied the West Bank of the Jordan River, which Palestinians want as the core of an independent state. It has built Jewish settlements there that most countries deem illegal.
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Meanwhile, the Israeli land grabbers have intensified their attacks on Palestinians in their homes with the support of Israeli soldiers. They attacked the Palestinian town of Sinjil, north of Ramallah in the central occupied West Bank, on Sunday evening, ostensibly to disrupt celebrations in several towns over the expected release of 90 Palestinian prisoners under the Gaza ceasefire agreement.
The illegal settlers attacked the northern outskirts of the town, setting fire to four Palestinian vehicles, and pelting stones at four houses, eyewitnesses told Anadolu Agency on Monday.
The eyewitnesses added that “the town’s residents gathered to repel the settlers’ assault without any intervention from the army and without any reported injuries.”
Israeli Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi has also instructed the army to prepare for large-scale operations in the occupied West Bank, a day after a ceasefire deal took effect in Gaza.
“Alongside enhanced defensive preparations in the Gaza Strip, we must be ready for significant operations in Judea and Samaria (West Bank) in the coming days,” Halevi said in a statement on Monday.
The goal, according to Halevi, is to preempt Palestinian fighters and apprehend them.
The statement did not specify the locations of these operations, though activity in recent years has largely concentrated in the northern West Bank.
The army said Halevi’s remarks followed an assessment of the current situation in the Palestinian territories.
According to the statement, the chief of staff also ordered the military to draft plans for continued combat operations in Gaza and Lebanon.
Halevi’s statements came one day after the ceasefire and prisoner swap agreement came into force in Gaza on Sunday, suspending Israel’s genocidal war on the Palestinian enclave.
The 3-phase deal includes a prisoner exchange and sustained calm, aiming for a permanent truce and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.
Nearly 47,000 Palestinians have been killed, mostly women and children, and over 110,700 others injured in Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, according to local health authorities.
The Israeli war has left more than 11,000 people missing, with widespread destruction and a humanitarian crisis that has claimed the lives of many elderly people and children in one of the worst global humanitarian disasters ever.
In November, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.
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