The United Kingdom announced new measures targeting Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday, 8 September, including a ban on imports of goods produced in the settlements and sanctions against individuals and companies involved in settlement expansion.
British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband announced the measures in Parliament, saying the UK would introduce a “comprehensive sanction regime” targeting settlement activity rather than trade with Israel more broadly. The import ban is expected to come into effect within six to nine months.
The new measures will target companies and individuals involved in services including construction, infrastructure, financing, real estate, and advertising linked to settlement expansion.
The UK will also ban advertising for settlements in the West Bank and immediately sanction a number of extremist settlers accused of supporting or inciting violence against Palestinian communities.
Miliband said the British government considers Israel’s occupation of the West Bank unlawful, citing Israel’s continued control of the territory and the expansion of settlements.
The UK believes ethnic cleansing is taking place in parts of the West Bank, he said, accusing extremist settlers of forcing Palestinians from their land and saying the Israeli government has too often “turned a blind eye” to the violence.
The measures come as concerns grow over settlement expansion, including Israel’s planned E1 settlement project east of Jerusalem, a proposed settlement area that would connect East Jerusalem with existing settlements in the West Bank and could divide the territory, according to critics.
France and Canada are also moving to ban imports of goods from Israeli settlements, while a joint statement signed by the foreign ministers of 12 countries, including the UK, France, Canada, Spain, Norway and Sweden, called for an immediate halt to settlement expansion and reaffirmed support for a two-state solution.
The joint statement said Israel’s actions in the West Bank are undermining the possibility of a two-state solution and called for accountability over settler violence.
The UK has previously imposed sanctions related to settler violence and settlement activity. The latest measures represent a further shift in Britain’s policy toward Israeli settlement expansion, while London has stressed that the new trade restrictions target settlements rather than Israel as a whole.
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