london —
Britain, France and Canada on Tuesday announced plans for sanctions against illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, in a coordinated move that underscores the severity of Israel’s isolation on the international stage.
British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband, who announced the sanctions in Parliament, strongly condemned Israel’s actions in the West Bank, saying “settler terrorists” had carried out “ethnic cleansing” against Palestinians living there, and said the measures were a reset in relations between the two countries.
“Now is the time to take further action to uphold the two-state solution and our commitment to protect our interests and uphold our values, before it is too late,” British Prime Minister Andy Burnham, French President Emmanuel Macron and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said in a joint statement.
“The UK, France and Canada will therefore ban the import of goods from our settlements and will take targeted measures against our settlements and those who promote or profit from them.”
UK Foreign Secretary announces sanctions against Israeli settlements in occupied West Bank
UK Foreign Secretary announces sanctions against Israeli settlements in occupied West Bank
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The announcement was accompanied by a joint letter from nine other Western countries, saying they would seek to introduce similar restrictions on trade with settlements, which are illegal under international law, or to support European restrictions. The decision was welcomed by U.S. allies in the Middle East, including Oman and Qatar.
Israel and its most important ally, the United States, have threatened to retaliate against Britain for the move.
Mr Miliband said he was bringing this measure forward “as a proud Jew” and said Britain could no longer simply “complain” of injustice and suffering.
“While the British government agrees that the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians by settler terrorists is taking place in the West Bank, the Israeli government too often turns a blind eye to this. To make matters worse, members of the Israeli government are making statements and taking action supporting the forced displacement of Palestinians.”
He added that Britain must “act now” to oppose settlement expansion.
British sanctions ban the import of goods from Israeli settlements in the West Bank. Mr Miliband said he would also sanction further Israeli settlers and take action against specific companies and individuals involved in settlement expansion across construction, infrastructure, finance and real estate sectors.
“The UK must now lead in Europe, across the Commonwealth and internationally to ensure that no nation, business, bank or institution contributes to, facilitates or profits from this illegal occupation.”
UK sanctions legislation usually takes more than 12 months to come into force, but in this case the deadline appears to have been shortened to six to nine months.
Israel captured East Jerusalem and the West Bank in the 1967 war. Both are considered occupied territories under international law, and Israeli settlements there are considered illegal.
Mr Miliband said the sanctions were an effort to prevent the destruction of the two-state solution, referring to the peace plan, which calls for the creation of an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel, and what he called the “North Star” of British policy.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar called the move an “absurd political decision” and a “morally corrupt move” and accused the British government of interfering in Israel’s upcoming elections.
Settlement has accelerated under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s hardline government, which has made expanding settlements a priority.
Saar said Israel would retaliate by closing the British consulate in Jerusalem, expelling British representatives from the CMCC, Israel’s southern coordination center managing the next phase of the Gaza ceasefire plan, suspending the British Support Team (BST), a small unit of British military personnel based in Ramallah supporting the Palestinian Authority Security Forces (PASF), and denying entry to 11 British MPs and one lawyer.
The issue was raised in a phone call between Mr. Burnham and President Donald Trump on Monday, according to a person familiar with the call. The joint announcement could also provoke a reaction from the Trump administration.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Tuesday declined to comment on Britain’s new sanctions, but said: “We share the goal of stability.”
“Obviously we’re not going to do the same thing as the UK. We saw the UK announcement today and I can’t comment on that right now,” he told reporters in Miami.
Rubio added that the United States “doesn’t want anything destabilizing happening in the West Bank at a time when there’s so much going on in the region.”
The decision marks a major clash between Israel and some of its key Western allies, and comes amid growing international criticism of Israel’s policies in the West Bank, where settler violence against Palestinians has soared in an area the international community considers part of a future Palestinian state.
This comes as Israel pursues its internationally condemned E1 settlement plan, which would divide the West Bank into north and south, making a contiguous Palestinian state virtually impossible.
The E1 project would also separate East Jerusalem, the capital of the Palestinian state, from the rest of the country. In late August, the Israeli Ministry of Housing invited bids for the construction of more than 1,200 homes in E1. The plan aims to create a continuous block of Jewish settlements from East Jerusalem to the West Bank.
Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has explicitly defended settlement expansion as a way to “bury” the concept of a Palestinian state. “Palestinian statehood is being wiped off the table by actions, not slogans,” Smotrich said when E1 received final approval.
Last year, Britain and other countries sanctioned Smotrich and far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir for “repeatedly inciting violence against Palestinians.”
Israel gave final approval to the E1 project last year, giving the green light to more than 3,400 homes.
“Every village, every neighborhood, every apartment complex will have this dangerous idea nailed to its coffin,” he added.
Most of Israel’s settlements are state-run operations, but a number of settler groups have established dozens of unauthorized outposts in recent years, often using violence and physical force, ultimately securing recognition from the Israeli government.
Human rights groups and watchdog groups, including Amnesty International, said Netanyahu’s government was turning a blind eye to the violence, calling it part of a broader ecosystem of “state-sponsored settler violence.”
