Palestine weekly wrap: World sanctions settlers, Israel funds settlements

Article excerpt

Amnesty International declared Israeli settler violence in the West Bank amounts to state-sponsored ethnic cleansing, while international pressure mounted against Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich as several countries barred him entry. The accusations come as Israel's government continues funding settlement expansion in occupied Palestinian territory, a practice condemned by much of the global community but defended by Israeli officials as legal. Smotrich, a prominent right-wing politician and settlement advocate, faced travel restrictions from multiple nations, marking an escalation in diplomatic consequences for Israeli government officials.