Israeli settler group slams US sanctions over West Bank

Israeli organisation Amana, a movement that backs developing settlements in the occupied West Bank, on Tuesday denounced sanctions imposed on it by the United States the previous day.

A statement by the group said the sanctions "result from baseless slander directed at Amana by hostile and extremist elements".

"Had the US administration bothered to verify the claims... it would have found them to be factually unfounded and refrained from taking action against us," the statement said.

US authorities said Monday they would impose sanctions on Amana and its construction branch Binyanei Bar Amana, as well as others who have "ties to violent actors in the West Bank".

"Amana is a key part of the Israeli extremist settlement movement and maintains ties to various persons previously sanctioned by the US government and its partners for perpetrating violence in the West Bank", the US Treasury said.

"More broadly, Amana strategically uses farming outposts, which it supports through financing, loans, and building infrastructure, to expand settlements and seize land," it added.

All settlements in the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967, are illegal under international law.

Settlement outposts are built by private actors including Amana, and are also illegal under Israeli law.

The new sanctions will block Amana assets in the United States and prevent financial transactions between it and US-based individuals and institutions.

Several Israeli settlers have already been the target of US sanctions.

Amana was founded in 1979 to develop the Jewish presence in the West Bank, the northern Israel region of Galilee and in the Negev region in the south.

It has founded and developed dozens of settlements and settlement outposts since then.

"We are confident that with the change of administration in Washington, and with proper and necessary action by the Israeli government, all sanctions will be lifted," Amana said Tuesday of US President-elect Donald Trump's perceived leniency towards Israeli actions.

Yossi Dagan, Shomron Regional Council president, in charge of settlements in the northern West Bank, called the sanctions move "the final act of the Biden administration, which is cynical and hostile towards the Near East's only democracy".

Violence in the West Bank, particularly in the north, has soared since the war in the Gaza Strip broke out on October 7 last year after Palestinian militants Hamas attacked southern Israel.

The UN office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs (OCHA), said in its latest report that 300 incidents involving settlers occurred in the West Bank between October 1 and November 4.

Not counting annexed east Jerusalem, about 490,000 settlers live in the West Bank, which is home to three million Palestinians.