West Bank settlements prompt call for sanctions from European political figures

In an open letter published on Wednesday, 448 signatories – including former EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell and former Belgian prime minister Guy Verhofstadt – called on the EU and its member states to impose targeted sanctions on individuals and entities involved in Israeli settlement expansion.

The appeal comes as Israel prepares to move ahead with the E1 settlement project, a plan covering around 12 square kilometres east of Jerusalem that includes roughly 3,400 housing units.

Critics say the development would effectively split the occupied West Bank in two, further isolating east Jerusalem from the Palestinian territories.

According to the letter, the Israeli government intends to publish detailed tenders for the project on 1 June.

“The EU and its member states must take immediate measures,” the signatories wrote, “to deter Israel from pursuing its illegal annexation of Palestinian land in the West Bank.”

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'Violation of our values'

The former officials are urging Brussels to adopt targeted sanctions including visa bans and business restrictions against those linked to settlement activity, and the E1 project specifically.

Potential targets mentioned in the letter include political figures, settlement leaders, the Israeli Land Authority, local officials, urban planners, architects, engineers, developers, contractors and financial institutions involved in the scheme.

The signatories also pressed the EU to act ahead of the bloc's Foreign Affairs Council meeting on 11 May, arguing that delaying action would weaken Europe's commitment to international law.

Sven Kühn von Burgsdorff, who served as the EU's ambassador to the Palestinian territories and Gaza between 2020 and 2023, said support for the initiative had grown significantly over the past year.

“It's the eighth time we've launched an open declaration,” he told RFI. “We started in July last year with around 20 signatories. Today, we have 450, which is quite impressive.”

He said the growing number reflected mounting concern among former European officials that the EU is risking abandoning its principles.

“There is a growing concern among former officials like myself who believe the European Union is founded on values and principles of international law and human rights,” he said. “A failure to act would be a blatant violation of our own values and interests.”

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Settler violence

The E1 project was approved by Israel in August 2025 and has drawn strong international criticism.

United Nations secretary-general António Guterres, through a spokesman, warned that the plan would pose an “existential threat” to the viability of a contiguous Palestinian state.

Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967. Excluding annexed east Jerusalem, more than 500,000 Israeli settlers now live in the territory alongside 3 million Palestinians. The settlements are considered illegal under international law by the United Nations.

According to a recent UN report, the expansion of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank reached its highest recorded level in 2025 since the organisation began tracking the data in 2017.

Settlement growth has accelerated sharply under Israel's current government, particularly since the outbreak of the Gaza war following Hamas's 7 October, 2023 attack on Israel.

Violence in the West Bank has also intensified. Palestinian officials and the UN say attacks by Israeli settlers have surged in recent months, with clashes involving settlers, Palestinian residents and Israeli forces becoming increasingly frequent and, at times, deadly.

(with newswires)