The EU remains split on imposing sanctions on Israel, despite some member states criticising the country over the plight of Gaza and violence against Palestinians by Israeli settlers in the West Bank.
Kaja Kallas, the EU foreign policy chief, said proposals for a part suspension of the EU-Israel association agreement remained on the table but required states to shift their positions to come into force.
Speaking after a meeting between EU foreign ministers on Tuesday, she told reporters: “We didn’t see that today, but these discussions will continue.”
Kallas rejected criticism that the bloc’s approach to Israel suggested a double standard, a charge levelled by some EU insiders, while raising doubts about the impact of sanctions. “A suspension of the association agreement, will it stop the expansion [by Israeli settlers] on the West Bank? You know this is probably also not true.”
Separately she said the EU would add to wide-ranging restrictions on Iran by adopting new sanctions on Iranians involved in limiting free navigation through the strait of Hormuz. The EU would aim to adopt the sanctions in May, she said.
At Tuesday’s meeting, Ireland, Spain and Slovenia pressed Kallas to reopen a part suspension of Israel’s association agreement with the EU, which was proposed last autumn but never secured majority support.
The three countries, historically defenders of Palestinian rights, wrote to Kallas last week, describing the “unbearable” conditions in Gaza with continuous violations of the ceasefire and insufficient entry of humanitarian aid, as well as escalating violence against Palestinians in the West Bank.
Upping pressure from another direction, France and Sweden urged the European Commission to “urgently consider” imposing tariffs on products from illegal settlements in the West Bank and restrictions on exports to these territories. Kallas said she would raise that proposal with the European commissioner for trade.
The commission, which is responsible for EU trade policy, has previously said goods originating from Israeli settlements that came under Israeli administration after June 1967 are not entitled to preferential treatment. “Only products originating in Israel proper are granted trade preferences under the EU-Israel association agreement,” a spokesperson said in March.
Espen Barth Eide, Norway’s foreign minister, said one of the main problems facing the Palestinian Authority was the encroachment on Palestine by violent settlers, “at times tolerated by, even supported by the Israeli government and the IDF [Israel Defense Forces]”.
The minister also called on Israel to release Palestinian “clearance revenues”, taxes and customs duties, which are the Palestinian Authority’s main source of revenue but are collected by Israel under the Oslo accords brokered by Norway.
Transfer of the revenues has been suspended by Israel since May 2025, creating problems for the authority in paying teachers, doctors, rubbish collectors and police officers.