Twelve countries including Britain, Canada and France announced yesterday they would sanction trade with Israeli settlements in the West Bank, after increasing attacks by settlers against Palestinians in the occupied territory.
Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Ireland, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain and Sweden also plan to issue restrictions on trade with the settlements, the nations’ foreign ministers said in a joint statement.
The action follows weeks of increasing attacks by Israeli settlers against Palestinian villages in the illegally occupied territory that has drawn widespread condemnation from the international community.
Ireland and Spain have already taken measures against trade with Israeli settlements, and France has for weeks been pushing for a similar decision from the European Union, Israel’s leading trading partner, but has been blocked by some members.
The 12 ministers said actions by the Israeli government in the West Bank was ‘undermining the possibility of a two-state solution’, referring to a plan under which two states – one Israeli and one Palestinian – would live peacefully side by side.
“The situation is rapidly deteriorating amid unprecedented levels of settler violence and settlement expansion,” they warned.
The E1 settlement plan – approved by Israel last year after decades of being frozen, notably due to pressure from successive US administrations – would see 1,200 housing units built in the West Bank.
It would further isolate Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem from the rest of the occupied territory.
During an address to the UK parliament, British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband accused the Israeli government of turning a ‘blind eye’ to what he called ‘ethnic cleansing’ by the Israeli settlers.
He announced Britain would introduce an ‘import ban on goods from illegal settlements in the occupied territories.”
“I do not believe the British people want us to suppor the occupation by accepting products from settlements in our shops and supermarkets,” he told the British parliament, flanked by new Prime Minister Andy Burnham.
“We will take action against specific companies and individuals who provide services such as construction, infrastructure, financing, or real estate for settlement expansion,” he added.
In a statement posted on X, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said France ‘will end trade’ with settlements located in the occupied territories.
Commenting on Britain’s move, America’s ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee told BBC Radio: “I feel like it’s discrimination against the Israeli government. It’s a discrimination against the Jewish people.”
Israel said it was closing Britain’s consulate in East Jerusalem.
Britain will also no longer participate in a US-led co-ordination mission for Gaza and some British officials, including former Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn, and other nationals will be banned from entering Israel, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said.
Miliband is the son of Jewish immigrant parents.
Some of the violence by settlers in recent weeks had drawn rare condemnation from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as well as more critics in European capitals.
The UK government’s move signals a toughening of its stance towards Israel under Burnham, who entered Downing Street in July after Keir Starmer stepped down.
More than 500,000 Israelis live in illegal settlements in the West Bank, among some three million Palestinians.
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