The United Kingdom on Tuesday announced trade restrictions on goods made in Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.
The center-left Labour Party government has previously sanctioned some Israeli settlers and illegal outposts over violence against Palestinians and illegal development in the West Bank.
The announcement came as the foreign ministers of 11 other governments announced they too would be slapping sanctions on trade with Israeli settlements.
“I can announce today that we will introduce an import ban on goods from illegal settlements in the occupied territories,” UK Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband announced in the House of Commons.
“We will take action against specific companies and individuals who provide services such as construction, infrastructure, financing or real estate for settlement expansion,” Miliband said.
The foreign secretary said those financing or facilitating illegal settlement would “face the full force of UK sanctions.”
Before announcing the sanctions, Miliband said that “settler terrorism was rampant” and referenced various instances of violence in the West Bank.
Miliband told MPs a “new approach” was necessary because plans for development in the West Bank would render a two-state solution “unviable” as it would be “cutting through the heart of Palestine.”
Miliband accused the Israeli government of turning a “blind eye” to what he called “ethnic cleansing” by settlers in the West Bank
Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Iceland, Ireland, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, and Sweden also plan to limit trade with the settlements, according to a joint statement.
Meanwhile, an EU Foreign Affairs spokesperson said the bloc “adopted three packages of sanctions against extreme settlers and their entities.”
~DW
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