Bishops call on UK government to take action over West Bank settler violence

Senior Church of England clerics want ministers to intensify sanctions and be willing to suspend Israeli trade agreement

Four senior Church of England bishops have called on the UK government to intensify the use of sanctions and to be willing to suspend its trade agreement with Israel over settler violence in the occupied West Bank.

The situation there is “in freefall with increasing levels of settler violence and intimidation against Palestinians”, the bishops say in a letter to the Guardian. The settlers are acting with impunity, they add. “Settler violence is state violence by any other name.”