By Chibuzor Alli
The United Kingdom has announced sanctions targeting illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, prompting a strong response from Israel, including plans to close the UK consulate in East Jerusalem.
UK Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband said the measures marked the “beginning of a new approach” to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which he said “not only calls out injustice and suffering but acts”.
The sanctions will ban goods from the settlements and target companies and individuals providing services linked to settlement expansion.
The measures were announced alongside France and Canada, which said in a joint statement with the UK that the action “marks a further turning point in our approach to protecting the two-state solution”.
Settlements are considered illegal under international law, while violence against Palestinians in the West Bank by settlers has increased in recent months.
In a statement to MPs, Miliband said: “The British government agrees that there is ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in areas of the West Bank, perpetrated by settler terrorists.
“And all too often the Israeli government has turned a blind eye to this and worse, members of it have made statements and taken actions to support the forced displacement of Palestinians.”
He said ethnic cleansing was defined by the UN as a “purposeful policy designed by one ethnic or religious group to remove by violent means another ethnic or religious group from certain areas”.
Miliband said the UK government considered the Israeli occupation of the West Bank unlawful because of the “entrenchment of its control, its intention to extend permanent sovereignty, and its expansionist agenda via illegal settlements”.
He said the position, which is in line with a 2024 advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice, should be reflected in the UK’s “economic relationship” with the occupied West Bank.
As a result, he said the UK would introduce “a new comprehensive sanctions regime” over the next six to nine months.
The foreign secretary also announced a ban on advertising illegal West Bank settlements in the UK.
“The sanctions regime will target illegal settlements and settlement expansion, not Israel,” Miliband added.
Later on Tuesday, Prime Minister Andy Burnham said the targeted measures were “aimed not at the Israeli people, but in support of the two-state solution”.
Israel announces counter-measures
Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Saar accused Miliband of spreading an “outrageous lie” and announced a series of counter-measures, including the closure of the UK consulate in East Jerusalem.
Announcing the closure, which affects the UK government’s diplomatic representation covering Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza, Saar said: “We know that we have many friends in Britain.
“Unfortunately, we have a hostile Labour government that is consistently operating against the State of Israel, and it has left us no choice but to respond to its hostile actions.”
He also said 11 UK MPs, including Jeremy Corbyn, Diane Abbott and all five sitting Green Party MPs, would be banned from entering Israel.
Saar accused the lawmakers of “antisemitic and anti-Israel activity”.
Israel also said British representatives from the International Gaza Support Center in Kiryat Gat in southern Israel would be removed, while UK activities to train Palestinian Authority forces in Judea and Samaria, the name used by the Israeli government for the West Bank, would be terminated.
Israel’s President Isaac Herzog said the UK decision would “fall on the wrong side of history”.
“In the current context, it would be a gross interference in the democratic elections of a sovereign nation,” Herzog said.
He said the move would directly harm Palestinians and urged foreign governments to pursue “constructive dialogue” and cooperation, adding that “sanctions are not a solution”.
UK links sanctions to West Bank settlement expansion
The UK announcement follows Israel’s opening of tenders for the construction of about 1,200 settlement homes in the E1 area, a strategically important territory east of Jerusalem.
The plans have attracted widespread international condemnation. Israel had held off on construction in the area for decades amid international pressure.
Miliband told the Commons that the UK’s “new approach” was necessary because development in E1 would render a two-state solution “unviable” by “cutting through the heart of Palestine”.
The UK also issued a joint statement with 11 other countries — France, Canada, Denmark, Spain, Finland, Ireland, Iceland, Norway, Poland, Portugal and Sweden.
The countries said they were unequivocally committed to the two-state solution and would introduce national measures or support European restrictions on trade involving goods from West Bank settlements.
UK says Israel has right to defend itself
Miliband also addressed the 7 October 2023 Hamas-led attack on southern Israel, which triggered the Gaza war.
He said the attack carried “terrible echoes of the centuries of persecution of the Jewish people” and stressed that Israel had “the right to protect its people and defend its territory”.
However, he added: “that cannot justify what has happened in Gaza”.
He said: “International humanitarian law imposes clear rules for states fighting wars, including to ensure access to food and medical supplies, to avoid mass displacement of civilians, and to avoid the targeting of civilians. Serious and international violations of this law, if proven, amount to war crimes.
“What has occurred, including the actions of the IDF (Israel Defense Forces), have been examined in depth by a number of organisations, including the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry.
“The conclusions of these reports represent increasing evidence that war crimes appear to have been committed, and we support legal processes to determine this.”
Miliband added that it was for international courts to determine whether Israel had committed genocide in Gaza.
Israel’s leaders have consistently rejected allegations of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, insisting that Israeli forces have operated in accordance with international law.
Jewish groups criticise UK sanctions
Miliband began his statement to the Commons by referring to his Jewish roots and childhood experiences of visiting Israel, as well as recent antisemitic attacks in the UK.
He described himself as “a proud British Jew” and reiterated his support for Israel.
He said: “My personal story and that of thousands of British Jews is one of the many reasons why I say to anyone here or around the world who questions Israel’s right to exist as a homeland for the Jewish people – you are wrong, and we will call you out whenever you engage in this attempt at the erasure of Israel.”
However, the UK’s Chief Rabbi Sir Ephraim Mirvis described it as a “truly a dark day for British Jews”, saying the sanctions were “little more than political flag bearing for mendacious anti-Israel rhetoric” that would embolden people who “use hatred as a weapon against Jews”.
The Board of Deputies of British Jews expressed “deep regret” over the announcement and urged both the UK and Israeli governments to “avoid pursuing what appear to be party interests over national interests”.
Conservative shadow foreign secretary Tom Tugendhat accused the government of “enacting policies that the Foreign Office knows won’t work”.
He agreed that illegal settlements were wrong and said “some Israeli ministers have indulged in hateful propaganda and incitement”.
However, he added: “this isn’t about Israel alone and it certainly isn’t about reducing the complexity of the region to a single sentence. Sadly, the government is in the process of doing just that”.
Saar later said he had spoken with Tugendhat and Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch, thanking them “for their firm opposition to the hostile Labour government’s announcement today and its series of anti-Israel policies since taking office”.
US rejects UK approach
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the White House had no comment on the joint action, adding that “obviously we’re not going to do what the UK did”.
Earlier, Donald Trump’s ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, told the BBC that the US, Israel’s most powerful ally, would “without a doubt” respond to the expected sanctions.
He warned of a “huge economic impact on British businesses” and suggested action could be taken by individual US states as well as at federal level.
The Palestinian presidency welcomed the UK’s decision, describing it as “an important step towards confronting Israel’s colonial system and its violations against the Palestinian people”.
UK announces further sanctions
As part of the wider announcement, Miliband also announced sanctions targeting the financing wing of Lebanon’s Hezbollah, the Iran-backed armed group.
Additional sanctions aligned with measures imposed by the US and European Union were also announced against Iran.
The latest intervention comes almost a year after the UK government recognised a state of Palestine and said it had a moral responsibility to support a peaceful future for Israelis and Palestinians.
Israel rejects a two-state solution, saying any final settlement must result from negotiations with the Palestinians and that statehood should not be a precondition.
The Palestinian Authority supports a two-state solution, while Hamas opposes it because of its rejection of Israel’s existence.
Hamas has said it could accept an interim Palestinian state based on the 1967 de facto borders without formally recognising Israel if Palestinian refugees were granted the right to return.
Israel has built about 160 settlements housing 700,000 Jews since occupying the West Bank and East Jerusalem during the 1967 Middle East war. An estimated 3.3 million Palestinians live alongside them.
There has been a surge in attacks by settlers against Palestinians and their property in the West Bank since the start of the Gaza war, which was triggered by the Hamas-led attack on Israel on 7 October 2023.
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