MEP Lucia Yar’s (Renew Europe) recent visit to the occupied Palestinian territory offered a rare opportunity to hear directly from Palestinians living under military control, something which Israeli bureaucracy has made increasingly difficult since the start of the war in Gaza.
As the EU debates sanctions against Israeli settlers, a bigger question remains: can Europe help change the political attitudes of a generation growing up without meaningful contact with Palestinians?
A generation under occupation
For many young Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, the boundaries of everyday life are drawn by checkpoints, military permits and the constant possibility of detention. Their childhoods and early adult years are shaped by restrictions on movement, the presence of Israeli soldiers and the uncertainty of whether they can reach their schools, universities, workplaces or even neighbouring communities.
It was this reality that Slovak MEP Yar encountered during a visit to the West Bank in September 2026, becoming, according to her account, the first Slovak politician to travel there since the Hamas-led attacks on Israel on 7 October 2023.
What struck her most was not simply the physical restrictions but the psychological consequences of growing up under occupation.
During the trip, Yar met a young Palestinian woman who described how her family had avoided keeping photographs, flags or other objects that might openly express their Palestinian identity. The woman also spoke of Israeli soldiers entering her home and taking away her brother.
Yar in her interview with the EU observer stated that encounters with young Palestinians revealed a generation living with fear, surveillance and the experience of detention. She was equally struck by the lack of contact between young Israelis and Palestinians, and by the anger and inherited trauma that continue to shape attitudes on both sides.
A visit outside the usual diplomatic channels
Yar travelled at the invitation of DanChurchAid, a Danish humanitarian organisation with longstanding involvement in the Palestinian territories and advocacy on humanitarian and human rights issues.
The visit was particularly significant against the backdrop of difficulties faced by European parliamentary delegations seeking access to the occupied territory. In February 2025, an official European Parliament mission was disrupted after Israeli authorities refused entry to several members of its delegation.
Subsequent parliamentary visits have nevertheless taken place, demonstrating that access is possible, although diplomatic and political obstacles remain.
Yar’s programme brought her into contact with organisations from both Israeli and Palestinian civil society. Disclosed meetings associated with the visit included the Israeli human rights organisation B’Tselem, the former soldiers’ group Breaking the Silence, the Palestinian Women’s Centre for Legal Aid and Counselling, and representatives of the Palestinian Authority.
She also visited Augusta Victoria Hospital in East Jerusalem, a major healthcare institution serving Palestinians.
The occupation has been known to affect access to healthcare, education, employment, land and basic freedoms. Hearing from people working in these areas provides a perspective that formal political meetings cannot always offer.
The reality behind the checkpoints
The conditions described by Yar are consistent with a wider body of international and historical documentation.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has repeatedly documented the extensive restrictions on Palestinian movement across the West Bank. In April 2026 UN reporting recorded hundreds of checkpoints, roadblocks and other movement obstacles affecting millions of Palestinians.
The restrictions are particularly consequential for communities in areas under full Israeli military and administrative control, known as Area C, where settlement expansion, land confiscation and demolitions have profoundly affected Palestinian livelihoods.
Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank are considered illegal under international law and have been consistently condemned by the United Nations and the European Union.
For Palestinians, however, the consequences are not abstract questions of international law. They are experienced through the fragmentation of communities, restrictions on family life and the constant uncertainty of daily movement.
The separation between Israelis and Palestinians is also social and educational. Many young Israelis have limited direct contact with Palestinians living under occupation. Equally, Palestinian young people grow up experiencing Israeli authority primarily through soldiers, checkpoints and restrictions.
Europe’s sanctions dilemma
The MEP’s visit also brought renewed attention to the EU’s response to settlement expansion and violence against Palestinians.
European governments have repeatedly condemned settlement activity and settler violence, nonetheless, translating those declarations into effective measures has proven difficult.
The EU has, however, adopted targeted sanctions against certain settlers and associated organisations with frozen assets and restricted travel, signalling that violence and support for illegal settlement activity carries consequences.
Yar argues that Europe should go further, particularly by examining restrictions on trade with Israeli settlements.
There is an important distinction between sanctions targeting individuals and economic measures affecting the wider settlement enterprise. Restrictions on settlement-related trade could challenge the financial incentives that help sustain the expansion of settlements, while reinforcing the EU’s position that occupied territory cannot be treated as part of Israel.
The European Commission has scope to develop proposals in the area of trade policy, where decisions generally follow different voting rules from foreign policy sanctions. This potentially offers a route around some of the political deadlock.
But sanctions should not be understood merely as instruments of economic pressure. Their broader significance lies in whether they can help change the political environment in which occupation and settlement expansion are normalised.
Can sanctions change the next generation?
This raises a less frequently discussed dimension of European policy: the impact of sanctions on Israeli society, particularly its younger generation.
Sanctions alone will not change attitudes, nor should young Israelis be treated collectively as responsible for the decisions of their government. Nevertheless, meaningful consequences for settlement expansion and violence could challenge the perception that these policies carry no significant international cost.
Combined with stronger educational, cultural and civil society engagement, European pressure could help create space for a more informed public debate within Israel.
The EU also has an interest in supporting organisations that bring Israelis and Palestinians together, document human rights violations and challenge the narratives that sustain hostility.
The objective should not be to impose a particular political identity on young Israelis, but to make it harder for an entire population to remain disconnected from the reality experienced by Palestinians living alongside them.
For Palestinians, meanwhile, meaningful change cannot be reduced to greater international awareness. It requires an end to policies that restrict their freedom, fragment their communities and undermine their prospects for self-determination.
(Sources: United Nations, European Parliament, EUobserver)
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