West Bank · updated 2h ago · 3 min read
Britain To Ban Trade In West Bank Settlement Goods Amid E1 Dispute Tuesday
UK to ban trade with Israeli settlements in the West Bank, to be announced Tuesday. Measures include banning settlement-produced goods and sanctions on settlement-construction companies.
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Trade ban set for Tuesday
Britain is set to announce on Tuesday wide-ranging economic restrictions on Israeli settlements in the West Bank, including a ban on trade in goods produced in the settlements, amid the E1 dispute east of Jerusalem.
“including a ban on trade in goods produced in the settlements”
The New York Times reported that seven officials briefed on the measures said the package was expected to include a trade ban on goods produced in Israeli settlements, and three officials said it could also include sanctions on companies helping to build settlements.
Lord Tariq Ahmad, who served as Britain’s Middle East minister until 2024, told the New York Times that the government was “broadening the extent of the sanctions from individuals to looking at processes and the system.”
The measures would go beyond previous British sanctions that targeted individual settlers and far-right Israeli ministers, while the report said the economic impact of a settlement goods ban would likely be limited because such products make up only a small fraction of the roughly $8 billion in annual trade between Britain and Israel.
The restrictions are expected to deepen strained ties between London and Jerusalem, with Israel signaling it is prepared to retaliate after Britain intensifies its opposition to the E1 settlement project, which Miliband described as crossing a “red line.”
Reactions from ministers
Israeli far-right ministers reacted furiously to Monday’s reports, with Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich calling for the expulsion of the British ambassador from Israel.
On X, Smotrich said, “We will not be a doormat for an antisemitic government in a country occupied by radical Islam that is trying to escape economic and social collapse by attacking Jews and the State of Israel,” and he added, “The British Mandate in Israel is over.”
National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir wrote on X in Spanish that Israel should recognize Argentina’s sovereignty over the disputed Falkland Islands and urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to “recognize Argentina’s sovereignty over the Malvinas Islands and to impose sanctions on Great Britain as long as the occupation continues.”
The Guardian reported that Ed Miliband will impose a UK ban on the trade in goods and some services from illegal Israeli settlements, and it said his statement to MPs is expected to use firmer language calling out “the humanitarian injustices suffered by Palestinians in Gaza.”
The Guardian also reported that polling released to it showed Britons across the political divide strongly favor banning trade with illegal Israeli settlements by a margin of more than two to one, with only 18% of UK adults opposing a ban on trade in goods with Israeli settlements.
E1, Gaza, and what’s at risk
The expected Tuesday announcement comes as Britain intensifies its opposition to Israel’s E1 settlement project east of Jerusalem, which Miliband described as crossing a “red line,” and the Israeli government last month opened bidding for seven residential compounds containing 1,234 housing units in the E1 area.
“seven residential compounds containing 1,234 housing units in the E1 area”
The project would connect Jerusalem and the Ma’ale Adumim area while effectively preventing contiguous Palestinian sovereignty between Bethlehem, East Jerusalem and Ramallah, and it was frozen for years amid fierce international opposition including from previous US administrations.
In the lead-up to the measures, the Guardian said Miliband’s intervention is expected to draw fierce criticism from the US and Israel, and it reported that Israel’s foreign ministry hotly denied Miliband’s claim that aid had been held back into Gaza.
The Guardian also said Miliband is expected to place the settlement measures firmly in the context of upholding international law, including the findings of the international criminal court and the international court of justice (ICJ), and it reported that the package is not likely to include sanctions over aid restrictions into Gaza or to describe what has happened as a genocide.
Al Jazeera quoted policy analyst Zena Agha saying, “We’re seeing more of a continuation versus a rupture,” as it described Britain’s expected trade restrictions on illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank and the broader context of violence toward Palestinians in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.