The New York Times reported that the move comes as the United States is trying to revive efforts to achieve a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in order to break the cycle of violence between the two sides.

Any two-state solution would require the Israeli government to rein in right-wing West Bank settlers who oppose the creation of a Palestinian state.

However, Palestinians and many analysts say the Israeli government has allowed often heavily armed settlers to operate with impunity, which has led to increasing violence by extremist settlers in the West Bank.

According to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, settler violence in the West Bank has reached its highest level in nearly 15 years since the new round of Israeli-Palestinian conflict broke out.

More than 200 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank since October 7, and more than 1,000 Palestinians have been displaced. Israel has also arrested more than 2,000 Palestinians in the West Bank in the past two months.

The Associated Press reports that Israeli settler violence long predates the current round of Israeli-Palestinian conflict, with violent attacks aimed at driving Palestinians from their homes reaching the highest level on record even before October 7.

A United Nations report released in September showed that violence has left five Palestinian communities completely empty since 2022, and half the residents of six others have fled.

As Israeli settlements have expanded under the Netanyahu government, Palestinians say violence by extremist Israeli settlers has reached a "fever pitch."

Israel has occupied and built Jewish settlements in the West Bank since the 1967 Middle East war, while the Palestinians see the area as a core part of their future as an independent state. Most countries consider these Israeli settlements illegal, a claim Israel disputes, citing biblical references to the region's history.

When asked about settler violence at a press conference on December 5, Israeli Defense Minister Yoyaf Galant said that no one has the right to use violence except the Israeli authorities.

"Israel is a state of law," he said. The right to use violence belongs only to those who are certified by the government."

A Palestinian inspects a car that was burned during an Israeli settler attack on December 3
The administration has staunchly supported Israel since the current round of the conflict, but in recent weeks, as Israel has expanded its offensive and targeted densely populated southern Gaza, the White House has stepped up its calls for Israel to do more to limit civilian casualties.

US President Joe Biden and other senior US officials have repeatedly warned Israel that it must act to stop the increasing violence by Israeli settlers against Palestinians in the West Bank.

In a signed article published in the Washington Post on November 18, Biden said that extremist violence against Palestinians in the West Bank must stop, and the United States is prepared to impose a visa ban on extremists who attack civilians in the West Bank.

Blinken also said during a visit to Israel last week that the United States is concerned about violence by extremist settlers in the West Bank and measures by the Israeli government that could further escalate tensions in the West Bank, and that the United States is "prepared to use its authority to act."

State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said at a December 5 press briefing that the United States "remains dissatisfied" because it has not seen "sufficient action" by the Israeli government to hold perpetrators accountable.
The first bans under the new policy will go into effect on December 5, with more to come in the coming days, Miller noted, adding that this will eventually affect dozens of people.

Miller added that any Israeli holding a US visa who is targeted will receive a notice that their visa has been revoked.

While the visa ban is seen as the toughest punitive measure the United States has taken against Israel in decades, its practical effects are still being questioned.

According to the Guardian, Aaron David Miller, a former Middle East peace negotiator at the US State Department, expressed doubt that the policy would fundamentally change the situation.

"This is necessary but not enough," he said, "and it is a welcome sign that the government is taking the settler lynching situation seriously." But in reality, it's not going to change many people's minds."

James Zogby, founder and president of the Arab American Institute, argued that the Biden administration's response was "cosmetic" and did not indicate a serious effort to stop settler atrocities.

"If we know who these people are, then we should press for them to be prosecuted for the crimes they have committed."

But that is not happening at the moment." He stressed that a significant number of these settlers were American citizens, but did not see the U.S. government doing anything to address the problem at all