London – Britain’s government was set Tuesday to announce sanctions on Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, a minister indicated, in a move likely to anger Israel and the United States.
The decision would signal a toughening of the UK’s stance on Israel under new Labour Prime Minister Andy Burnham, who entered Downing Street in July after Keir Starmer stepped down.
It comes following weeks of increasing attacks by Israeli settlers against Palestinian villages in the occupied territory that some western governments fear threatens the two-state solution.
Government minister Pat McFadden said Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband would make a statement to parliament laying out “measures specifically targeted at the expansion of these settlements, which are illegal under international law in the West Bank”.
He told Sky News that the changes, on which he provided no further detail, would be motivated by “the idea of keeping alive this possibility of seeing a Palestinian state alongside Israel”.
“I think it’s also important to say that Israel is an important trading partner for the UK. This isn’t intended to be a boycott of all Israeli goods.”
UK government ministers have suggested recently that goods coming out of the illegal settlements could be subject to trade restrictions as part of the changes.
Miliband, son of Jewish refugees to Britain, vowed last Tuesday to announce a “comprehensive” reset of policy towards Israel and condemned “appalling settler terrorism” in the occupied West Bank.
Miliband called the so-called E1 development plan for more than 1,200 homes greenlighted by Israel last year “the crossing of a red line, as it cuts through the heart of the West Bank and risks making a Palestinian state unviable”.
Rare condemnation from Netanyahu
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to keep establishing the settlements despite mounting international pressure, promising a major wave of immigration to the Palestinian territory.
Some of the violence by settlers in recent weeks had drawn rare condemnation from Netanyahu and unusually strong criticism from the US ambassador, as well as more typical critics in European capitals.
In September last year, Starmer announced that Britain was formally recognising a Palestinian state, marking a historic shift in decades of British foreign policy.
According to an AFP tally based on data from the Palestinian health ministry, Israeli forces or settlers have killed at least 1,105 Palestinians in the West Bank, including both militants and civilians, since the start of the Gaza war in October 2023.
More than 500,000 Israelis live in illegal settlements in the Palestinian territory, among some three million Palestinians.
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