The United States announced this Tuesday that it has banned entry into the country of “radical” Israeli settlers who are responsible for violent attacks against the Palestinian population in the occupied West Bank.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken detailed in a statement that the Joe Biden Administration has decided to restrict visas for people “involved in undermining the peace, security or stability of the West Bank” as well as their family members.

The head of US diplomacy referred to acts of settler violence and attempts to restrict West Bank Palestinians' access to essential basic services. “We have stressed to the Israeli government the need to hold accountable radical settlers who have committed violent attacks against Palestinians in the West Bank,” Blinken said.

The State Department did not reveal the number or identities of the settlers who have been banned from entering the United States.

The occupied West Bank is experiencing its greatest spiral of violence since the Second Intifada (2000-05) and in 2023, 467 Palestinians have already died, most of them militiamen in armed clashes with Israeli troops and attackers, but also civilians, including more than a hundred minors.

The situation worsened in the wake of Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza that broke out on October 7, and since then, 259 West Bank Palestinians (including more than 65 minors) have died in violence, nine of them in settler attacks. including a child.

On October 25, Biden was “alarmed” by settler attacks against Palestinians and demanded that they stop their attacks immediately. “They are attacking Palestinians in places where they have a right to be.”. They have to stop, be accountable and stop now,” he said in a press conference.

In Tuesday's statement, Binken called for those responsible for “all acts of violence against civilians in the West Bank to be held accountable, regardless of the perpetrator or victim.”

He also spoke about the situation in Gaza and stressed that the United States has “made it clear” to Israel that it must take measures to protect the civilian population of the Palestinian enclave.

At the same time, Blinken added, Washington wants the Palestinian National Authority “to do more to stop Palestinian attacks on Israelis.”