“We cannot allow a reckless and dangerous minority to continue to endanger Israelis and Palestinians alike through theft, arson, intimidation, violence, and worse,” wrote the senators.
WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, along with Senator Jack Reed (D-R.I.), Chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and Senator Mark Warner (D-Va.), Chair of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, sent a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen, following up on their May 9 correspondence. In this latest letter, the senators express growing concern over extremist settler violence against Palestinian civilians in the West Bank.
The three national security committee chairs reaffirmed their support for the Biden-Harris Administration’s use of sanctions against individuals and organizations involved in and supporting such violence. They called for further action, including sanctions against the Amana organization and other entities that facilitate acts of violence threatening the peace, security, or stability of the West Bank.
“We cannot allow a reckless and dangerous minority to continue to endanger Israelis and Palestinians alike through theft, arson, intimidation, violence, and worse. Targeted sanctions have long been a valuable tool in holding violent extremists accountable for their actions and creating space for peaceful and more rational actors to work,” wrote the senators.
They also reaffirmed their ongoing commitment to “the notion that a negotiated two-state outcome is essential to Israel’s long-term security, to peace and stability in the Middle East as a whole, and to the United States’ national security interests. Such an outcome must include a viable Palestinian state with Palestinians peacefully and prosperously living on their own land.”
Full text of the letter can be found HERE and below.
Dear Secretary Blinken and Secretary Yellen:
Since our May 9 letter, extremist settlers continue to escalate the violence they perpetrate against innocent Palestinian civilians in the West Bank. These attacks threaten not only to destabilize an already volatile West Bank, they also imperil hopes for a negotiated two-state outcome and run the risk of expanding the current conflict in Gaza throughout the region. The violence harms ordinary Palestinians and undermines Israeli security.
As we outlined in our previous letter, it is imperative that the perpetrators of this violence be held accountable, along with the organizations that fund and incite them. We have expressed our strong support for the Administration’s past designations of David Chai Chasdai, Yinon Levi, and Ben Zion Gopstein, and entities like Lehava and Tsav 9. However, more must be done. We urge you to “follow the money” and consider sanctions against other perpetrators and their supporters like the Amana organization.
Amana has a long and well-documented history of supporting extremist settlers who expropriate Palestinian land and threaten Palestinian landholders, farmers, and shepherds. Amana has played a central role in forming and sustaining hill-top outposts illegal under Israeli law, often by granting loans to bankroll their start.
These outposts have since become bases of operation for settler violence against Palestinians, with those resident settlers burning olive groves and homes; stealing livestock; diverting water supplies; blocking roads in and out of villages; and intimidating and threatening villagers from accessing or returning to their land. These outposts contribute to the attacks on and sometimes even killing of Palestinians on their own land or while traveling through the West Bank.
We remain committed to the notion that a negotiated two-state outcome is essential to Israel’s long-term security, to peace and stability in the Middle East as a whole, and to the United States’ national security interests. Such an outcome must include a viable Palestinian state with Palestinians peacefully and prosperously living on their own land.
We cannot allow a reckless and dangerous minority to continue to endanger Israelis and Palestinians alike through theft, arson, intimidation, violence, and worse. Targeted sanctions have long been a valuable tool in holding violent extremists accountable for their actions and creating space for peaceful and more rational actors to work. Your steps under the new Executive Order 14115 have been instrumental in this process. They must continue to be used comprehensively to deter escalating violence.
We therefore urge you to continue to designate for sanctions those individuals and entities who are undermining peace and stability in the West Bank, to include the Amana organization.
We thank you for your attention to this important matter.
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