Netanyahu fears new EU sanctions against settlements

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed fears on Monday that the European Union may impose more sanctions against the illegal West Bank settlements, Israel’s Haaretz newspaper reported.

“We are facing a crisis which is not small with the European Union on the political level. They have marked settlements products and we do not know if they are going to do something else,” the paper quoted Netanyahu saying during a meeting with the Likud bloc in the Knesset.

According to the newspaper, the European Union is expected to issue a decision on its next steps on the Israeli-Palestinian issue during the EU foreign ministers’ monthly meeting in Brussels next week.

Some EU countries, led by France, have been in discussions about the possibility of pushing a Security Council resolution against Israeli settlements.

In November, Haaretz revealed that the EU has distributed a confidential document that includes a list of sanctions against Israel.

The document included proposed sanctions against European companies operating in the illegal settlements and preventing settlers who commit acts of violence against Palestinians from entering Europe.

“Israel has responded harshly to the European decision against the settlements by cutting contacts with the European foreign services and the EU institutions in Brussels in late November 2015,” Netanyahu added.

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