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U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday rescinded sanctions imposed by the former Biden administration on far-right West Bank settler groups and individuals accused of being involved in violence against Palestinians, the new White House website said.
The website said Trump rescinded Executive Order 14115 issued on Feb. 1, 2024, which authorized the imposition of certain sanctions "on Persons Undermining Peace, Security, and Stability in the West Bank."
Trump's decision is a reversal of a major policy action by former President Joe Biden's administration which had slapped sanctions on numerous Israeli settler individuals and entities, freezing their U.S. assets and generally barring Americans from dealing with them.
U.S. sanctions on settlers landed after the Biden administration repeatedly urged the Israeli government to take action to hold extremists to account for actions that Washington believes set back hopes for a two-state solution between Israelis and Palestinians.
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Trump's approach to settlements was significantly different. During his first term in 2019, Trump had abandoned the long-held U.S. position that the settlements are illegal before it was restored by Biden.
Yossi Dagan, head of the West Bank Samaria Regional Council welcomed the decision, adding that this is a golden age for settlements and the time to announce Israeli sovereignty over the West Bank.
"President Donald Trump's decision to reverse the outrageous sanctions of his predecessor as he entered the White House is not only moral and important but a message that the United States was once again becoming a freind to Israel," he said in a statement. "This indicates more than anything, the historic opportunity the Israeli government and its prime minister has in Judea and Samaria and in the state of Israel, to do great historic things, whether the trump administration agrees or whether there is disagreement. The ball has never been in Jerusalem's court as it is now. I call on the prime minister and the government not to iss this opportunity."