UK imposes sanctions on West Bank settlements as Israel retaliates

The United Kingdom has announced a new sanctions regime targeting Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, prompting a furious response from Israel and raising tensions between the two countries.

British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband said the measures represented a significant change in the UK's approach to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and were intended to protect the prospects of a future Palestinian state.

Under the new measures, the UK will restrict trade in goods produced by Israeli settlements and take action against companies and individuals involved in supporting or expanding settlement activity.

Britain will also prohibit the advertising of illegal West Bank settlements within the UK.

Miliband told Parliament that the government believed Palestinians were experiencing ethnic cleansing in parts of the West Bank as a result of settler violence and forced displacement.

He accused elements of the Israeli government of failing to adequately confront such activity, while arguing that continued settlement expansion was undermining the possibility of a negotiated two-state solution.

"The sanctions regime will target illegal settlements and settlement expansion, not Israel," Miliband said.

Britain said France and Canada would introduce similar measures, with the three governments describing the coordinated action as an important step towards preserving the possibility of two states living alongside each other.

A further group of countries - including Denmark, Spain, Finland, Ireland, Iceland, Norway, Poland, Portugal and Sweden - said they would either introduce national restrictions or support European measures targeting trade linked to Israeli settlements.

Israel announces retaliation

Israel strongly condemned the British decision.

Foreign Minister Gideon Saar accused Miliband of making what he described as an "outrageous lie" and announced a series of retaliatory measures.

Israel said it would close the British consulate in East Jerusalem, which handles British diplomatic affairs involving Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza.

Saar also announced restrictions on British political figures, including Labour figures and Green Party MPs, accusing them of anti-Israel and antisemitic activity.

British representatives involved with the International Gaza Support Center in southern Israel will also be removed, while Israeli authorities said British programmes supporting the training of Palestinian Authority security forces in the West Bank would be terminated.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog criticised the British measures, warning that sanctions would damage relations and could ultimately harm Palestinians.

He urged governments to pursue dialogue rather than economic pressure.

Israel has consistently rejected accusations that its policies amount to genocide, ethnic cleansing or war crimes and maintains that its military operates in accordance with international law.

E1 settlement plans increase pressure

The British announcement follows Israel's decision to advance plans for approximately 1,200 new settlement homes in the strategically important E1 area east of Jerusalem.

The proposed development has attracted international criticism because of its location and the potential consequences for the territorial continuity of a future Palestinian state.

Miliband said the development could make a two-state settlement increasingly difficult by dividing Palestinian territory.

Israel has pursued settlement construction across the West Bank and East Jerusalem since capturing the territories during the 1967 Middle East war.

Under international law, Israeli settlements in occupied Palestinian territory are considered illegal, although Israel disputes aspects of the international legal position and maintains that the status of the territory must ultimately be resolved through negotiations.

An estimated 700,000 Israeli settlers now live in roughly 160 settlements across the West Bank and East Jerusalem, alongside about 3.3 million Palestinians.

Settler attacks against Palestinians and their property have increased significantly since the Gaza war began following the Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.

Britain raises concerns over Gaza

Miliband also said there was growing evidence that serious violations of international humanitarian law may have occurred during the Gaza conflict.

He pointed to investigations by international organisations and said Britain supported legal processes capable of determining whether war crimes had been committed.

The foreign secretary stopped short of making a definitive finding on genocide, saying that question should be determined by international courts.

He also emphasised his personal support for Israel's existence and spoke about his Jewish background and concerns over antisemitism in Britain.

However, Britain's Chief Rabbi Sir Ephraim Mirvis condemned the sanctions, describing the announcement as a deeply troubling moment for British Jews and warning that the policy could contribute to hostility towards Jewish communities.

The Conservative opposition also criticised the government's approach, while acknowledging that settlement expansion and inflammatory statements by some Israeli officials were serious concerns.

Wider Middle East sanctions

Britain's announcement also included new sanctions against the financing arm of Hezbollah, the Lebanon-based armed group backed by Iran.

Additional sanctions against Iran were announced in coordination with existing American and European measures.

The measures come less than a year after Britain formally recognised a Palestinian state, part of the government's broader effort to support a negotiated two-state settlement.

The Palestinian leadership welcomed the latest sanctions, describing them as an important move against Israeli settlement expansion and what it called violations of Palestinian rights.

The United States, Israel's most powerful international ally, indicated that Washington would not follow Britain's approach.

The dispute has therefore created a significant diplomatic divide among Western governments over how best to respond to settlement expansion, violence in the West Bank and the wider Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Britain says its measures are aimed specifically at settlements and those supporting their expansion rather than at Israel as a country.

Israel, however, views the sanctions as another example of what it considers hostile international pressure and has responded with diplomatic and political countermeasures.