West Bank · updated 2h ago · 3 min read
UK Bans Imports From Israeli West Bank Settlements, Targets “Settler Terrorists”
UK bans imports from Israeli settlements in the West Bank. Sanctions target firms and individuals linked to settlement construction and services.
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9 of 11 outlets skipped it: israel would close the British consulate in Jerusalem..
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UK bans settlement goods
The United Kingdom announced a ban on imports of goods from Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, with Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband saying the move targets “settler terrorists” carrying out “ethnic cleansing” of Palestinians.
“The United Kingdom on Tuesday banned trade with Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank”
Miliband told Parliament that the U.K. will ban imports of all goods from the settlements and bar companies from providing services for the settlements, including financing, construction, infrastructure, real estate and advertising.
Israel responded by saying it would close the British consulate in Jerusalem, with Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar saying Israel would undertake countermeasures including expelling U.K. representatives from a joint military center monitoring the Gaza ceasefire.
The AP account said Miliband framed the policy as a refusal to support the occupation, while also saying the economic impact is likely to be limited because the settlements produce only a small amount of largely agricultural exports.
The New York Times reported that Miliband told lawmakers, “Today marks the beginning of a new approach,” as Britain coordinated with Canada and France to toughen policies toward the Israeli government.
Allies split, critics warn
In the U.K., former first minister of Scotland Humza Yousaf said Ed Miliband’s sanctions on Jewish settlements in the West Bank were a “welcome step in the right direction,” while Reform UK MP Richard Tice warned that “Labour’s desperate bid to win back hard-left and Islamist voters is putting Britain’s Jews at risk with these wrong-headed sanctions.”
Tice added that British Jews are “less safe” due to the sanctions, which he said would also damage the UK’s security relationship with the US and make “serious sanctions from Israel” likely.
The BBC reported that Leader of the Greens, Zack Polanski, said Miliband’s statement on Israel “is only a first step” and called for “a full ban on goods, services and investment,” alongside “a full arms embargo, full sanctions and an end to military collaboration.”
Israel’s leadership condemned the ban, with the AP reporting that Israeli President Isaac Herzog called it “a grave miscalculation, a decision that will fall on the wrong side of history.”
The BBC also said Yousaf hoped the government would “closes any loopholes it has left open” when it comes restrictions on buying services from Israeli settlements.
Two-state stakes and retaliation
The measures were framed by Miliband as a push to salvage the “two-state solution,” with NPR quoting him saying, “The British government agrees that there is ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in areas of the West Bank, perpetrated by settler terrorists.”
““The British government agrees that there is ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in areas of the West Bank”
NPR reported that Miliband said there had been “houses bulldozed, roads and public infrastructure destroyed, families displaced from their homes,” and it said the trade bans would take effect in six to nine months.
Israel’s foreign minister Gideon Sa’ar said the U.K. would face retaliation, telling NPR that Israel would close the British Consulate in Jerusalem in response to the U.K.’s policies and would bar a dozen British nationals including Labour Party lawmakers from entering Israel.
The AP said Sa’ar also warned Israel would end U.K. training of the Palestinian Authority’s security forces in the West Bank and prevent the entry into Israel of 12 elected U.K. officials.
France 24 reported that France’s Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said, “France is going to put an end to its commerce with Israeli settlements in Palestine, along with 11 other countries,” linking the policy to “frenzied expansion of the settlements” and “a flare up of violence against Palestinians by extremist settlers.”