The United Kingdom on Tuesday announced trade restrictions on goods made in Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.
The center-left Labour Party government has previously sanctioned some Israeli settlers and illegal outposts over violence against Palestinians and illegal development in the West Bank.
The announcement came as the foreign ministers of 11 other governments announced they too would be slapping sanctions on trade with Israeli settlements.
Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Iceland, Ireland, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, and Sweden also plan to limit trade with the settlements, according to a joint statement.
Meanwhile, an EU Foreign Affairs spokesperson said the bloc “adopted three packages of sanctions against extreme settlers and their entities.”
What did Miliband say?
“I can announce today that we will introduce an import ban on goods from illegal settlements in the occupied territories,” UK Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband announced in the House of Commons.
“We will take action against specific companies and individuals who provide services such as construction, infrastructure, financing or real estate for settlement expansion,” Miliband said.
The foreign secretary said those financing or facilitating illegal settlement would “face the full force of UK sanctions.”
Before announcing the sanctions, Miliband said that “settler terrorism was rampant” and referenced various instances of violence in the West Bank.
Miliband accused the Israeli government of turning a “blind eye” to what he called “ethnic cleansing” by settlers in the West Bank.
Why is the UK restricting trade
The measures appear to be setting the tone for relations between Britain’s new Prime Minister Andy Burnham and Israel.
According to a Downing Street readout of a phone call between the British leader and US President Donald Trump on the phone on Monday, Burnham laid out “the UK’s commitment to working towards peace and security in the region,” and stressed the importance of a two-state solution in Israel and the Palestinian territories.
The United Kingdom recognized Palestinian statehood last year in an attempt to revive efforts to achieve a two-state solution.
It also comes Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing government forges ahead with settlement construction in the West Bank, raising fears among some Western governments that it threatens any possible two-state solution. Israeli settlements in the West Bank are illegal under international law.
The measures also come amd flaring tensions in the West Bank that have involved violent attacks on Palestinians by Israeli settlers.
The UK has previously condemned the violence while calling for civilians to be protected and for those responsible to be held accountable.
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Israel warns it will ‘act against Britain’
Ahead of the announcement, Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Saar already indicated that Israel would respond.
“If Britain acts against Israel, Israel will act against Britain,” Saar warned.
Israel’s hard-line public security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to publicly recognize the Falkland Islands as “Argentine territory under occupation, which the British violently steal from the Argentine people.”
This is a developing story. Check back here for updates.
