GENEVA

Forty nations have proposed a sweeping package of sanctions against Israel, including arms embargoes and traveler screenings, to counter the "de facto annexation" of the West Bank.

According to the co-chairs' statement, the group presented these measures in response to an "unprecedented acceleration" of settlement policies that constitute a "direct assault" on Palestinian self-determination.

Among the proposed enforcement tools is a disclosure requirement for travelers with Israeli documents, subjecting those who served in the military to "secondary screening at ports of entry" under war-crimes inadmissibility rules.

The states also called for a total prohibition on the import of settlement goods and a halt to the "transfer, transit, or carriage of arms" and military fuel.

The statement emphasized that governments face a clear choice between "complicity or compliance," asserting: "History will judge us not by the speeches we delivered, but by the actions we took."

The meeting co-chaired by South Africa and Colombia is the largest gathering of The Hague Group since its 2025 inception, it noted.

Israel has intensified operations in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, since launching its military campaign in Gaza on Oct. 8, 2023. Palestinians view the escalation – including killings, arrests, displacement, and settlement expansion – as a step toward formal annexation of the territory.

In a landmark opinion in July 2024, the International Court of Justice declared Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory illegal and called for the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.