U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in his meeting with
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his war cabinet
have let them know that the United States will take its own
action against an undisclosed number of individuals.
The West Bank, among the territories where Palestinians seek
statehood, has experienced a surge of violence in recent months
amid expanding Jewish settlements and a nearly decade-old
impasse in U.S.-sponsored peacemaking.
The violence, at a more-than-15-year high this year, surged
further after Israel hurtled into a new war in the separate
enclave of Gaza in response to Palestinian militant group Hamas
unleashing the deadliest day in Israel's history on Oct. 7.
Asked for a response, Israeli government spokesman Eylon Levy
said he had no comment on the matter but said that Israel firmly
condemned any vigilantism or hooliganism or attempts by
individuals to take the law into their own hands.
The United States has repeatedly expressed its concern over the
rising violence in the West Bank, saying it must stop. U.S.
President Joe Biden, in a Nov. 18 Washington Post opinion piece
threatened to take action against the perpetrators.
"I have been emphatic with Israel’s leaders that extremist
violence against Palestinians in the West Bank must stop and
that those committing the violence must be held accountable. The
United States is prepared to take our own steps, including
issuing visa bans against extremists attacking civilians in the
West Bank," Biden wrote.
The State Department official, speaking on condition of
anonymity to discuss sensitive matters, said Washington wanted
Israel to prosecute perpetrators but had yet to see such a step.
The bans could come in the next few weeks, the official said.
Daily settler attacks have more than doubled, U.N. figures show,
since Hamas, which controls the coastal enclave of Gaza to
Israel's southwest, killed 1,200 Israelis and took about 240
hostage. Israel has since bombed and invaded Gaza, killing more
than 15,000 people.
(Reporting by Humeyra Pamuk; Editing by Howard Goller)
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