Analysis: Sanctioning extremist Israeli settlers has been on EU agenda for some time

European Union leaders have asked foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell to draw up a proposed list of extremist Israeli settlers to be sanctioned for violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.

Imposing EU-wide travel bans and asset freezes requires the unanimous agreement by the 27 EU countries. A “broad majority” of EU countries support it, according to an EU official, but there is not unanimity.

The United Kingdom and the United States imposed their own sanctions on settler extremists in recent days. Those affected are accused of destroying Palestinian homes and schools, and causing Palestinians to flee their homes in fear of their lives, while increasing the encroachment of their own illegal settlements. This is in Palestinian territory, which is occupied by Israel but earmarked to form the basis of a future Palestinian state.

The EU and other Western countries see these activities as putting ever further out of reach the only thing they think will finally resolve the conflict: the foundation of a Palestinian state alongside Israel.

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For this reason, European diplomats in the region have been raising the idea of placing travel bans on settler extremists for years, long before the current conflict spurred by the Hamas attacks of October 7th.

In a 2022 report, seen by The Irish Times, the EU’s representative in Jerusalem, supported by envoys from 21 member states, warned of a “drastic acceleration” in the destruction of Palestinian homes and strategic encroachment of settlements in the ancient city.

The report called on the EU and member states “to consider possible measures as regards immigration regulations in EU member states vis-a-vis known violent settlers and those calling for acts of violence”. There is evidence for similar suggestions in EU diplomatic documents going back to 2009.

Israeli activists opposed to the activities of extremist settlers say the ringleaders are fairly well known. Some have businesses, operating building or demolition enterprises that take part in the destruction of Palestinian homes and construction of illegal settlements. Some argue that certain businesses should also be targeted for economic sanctions.

An individual EU member state retains the ability to place an entry ban to its own territory without an EU-wide agreement. Sitting outside the Schengen-free travel zone, Ireland is arguably even more free to do so without co-ordination.

There is precedent for an EU member state acting when others do not. In 2009, when Britain was in the bloc, its Home Office revealed that it had included Israelis with extreme violent views on its list of people banned from entering the United Kingdom.

On Friday, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said if agreement was not reached among EU member states Ireland would join a group of countries in taking co-ordinated action together.

Particularly when aimed at economic interests, sanctions are most effective when imposed by the EU collectively. However, the measures against extremist settlers are largely intended as a political signal, including to the Israeli government, to demonstrate that Western commitment to the two-state solution is genuine and the limits of tolerance of the erosion of that idea.

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