Call for international sanctions against Israeli military commander after Qusra attacks

The Combatants for Peace movement has called on the European Union and the governments of the UK, Canada and Australia to impose personal sanctions on Avi Bluth, commander of the Israeli army’s Central Command, following recent attacks and incidents in the town of Qusra, south of Nablus, in the northern West Bank.

The movement said the incidents represented the latest escalation in settler violence against Palestinian communities in the occupied West Bank.

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The call was made in an urgent letter sent on behalf of the movement by human rights lawyer Eitay Mack. The letter said responsibility for the escalation in settler violence in the occupied West Bank did not lie solely with settlers, but also extended to the Israeli military leadership, which is responsible for protecting Palestinian residents and enforcing the law against settlers carrying out acts of terrorism.

The movement said several Western governments had imposed sanctions in recent years on settlers and extremist settler organisations, but had so far refrained from taking similar action against Israeli military officials.

It said Bluth, “as the highest-ranking military official in the West Bank, bears direct responsibility for failing to protect Palestinian communities, pursue terrorist settlers and prevent repeated attacks against Palestinian civilians.”

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