Western nations and the European Union on Friday urged Israel to "take concrete steps to halt unprecedented violence by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank", in a joint statement published by France's foreign ministry.
The call from Australia, Britain, Canada, France, the EU and several other European countries, but notably excluding Germany and the United States, highlighted "an unprecedented number of attacks perpetrated by extremist settlers" since early October that they said had claimed eight Palestinian lives and wounded 83 people, reiterating that Israel's settlement policy "is illegal under international law".
