Move follows rising Israeli violence against Palestinians and freeze on broader sanctions last month
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The Netherlands is still working on legislation to bar imports from illegal settlements in occupied Palestine, even though it has paused a push for broader sanctions on Israel after last month’s ceasefire deal in Gaza, the foreign minister has said during a visit to the region.
The partial ban was a response to settlement expansion and spiralling Israeli violence against Palestinians that threatened the viability of the two-state solution, David van Weel said after visiting an area in the West Bank that had been targeted by settlers.
“Now we deem it is not a time to increase sanctions on Israel because we want to see the peace plan implemented and we want to also encourage Israel to play a positive part in this,” he told the Guardian in an interview.
