Singapore to sanction Israeli settler leaders, supports Palestine statehood

Singapore said on Monday it will impose targeted sanctions on leaders of Israeli settler groups and would recognise a Palestine state under the right conditions. Western and other nations have been taking an increasingly hard line against settler groups and some Israeli officials they accuse of fomenting violence, while global recognition is growing of Palestinians' aspiration for an independent homeland. Singapore's Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan, speaking in parliament, chided those Israeli politicians who have spoken about annexing parts of the West Bank or Gaza, the two Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories. "We call on the Israeli government to cease settlement construction and expansion," he said, citing the so-called E1 settlement project as fragmenting the West Bank. "We oppose ongoing attempts to create...