US President Joe Biden sent a memorandum to the State and Finance Ministries to implement sanctions on extremist Israeli settlers who attack and displace Palestinians in the West Bank, according to the American newspaper Politico.

The memorandum, which was issued the day before yesterday, Friday, asks Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, and Treasury Secretary, Janet Yellen, to prepare to take “swift action against those responsible for the violence in the West Bank.”

Politico adds that the memorandum specifies against whom sanctions will be applied, namely people or entities who “participated directly or indirectly in actions or policies that threaten the security or stability of the West Bank,” carry out acts of “intimidation of civilians in the West Bank,” or carry out actions that “constitute human rights violations” and measures that impede, disrupt, or significantly prevent efforts to achieve a two-state solution.”

The memo notes that Biden sees the issue of settler violence as posing a “serious threat” to peace between Israelis and Palestinians and destabilizing the entire Middle East. Yesterday, Saturday, Biden published an opinion article in the Washington Post in which he said, “The United States is prepared to take special steps, including issuing a visa ban against extremists who attack civilians in the West Bank.”

Politico says that it did not see the memo directly, but a senior American official, according to the newspaper's description, read large parts of the memo to it. This official added that the decision to issue the directive came after extensive discussion on this issue.

Politico quotes Yesh Din, an Israeli human rights organization, that 197 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank by settlers or Israeli forces since October 7. United Nations reports indicate that in this same period at least 121 Palestinian families (about 1,150 people, including 452 children) were displaced due to settler violence.