The UK government is to set out new restrictions on buying goods made in Jewish settlements in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, the BBC understands. Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband is expected to outline the measures in the Commons on Tuesday, which could include restrictions on trade in agricultural products from settlements. Last week, Miliband said he would unveil a “comprehensive reset” of the British government’s policy on Israel. The Israeli government has previously warned it would retaliate if any new measures were introduced.
Settlements are illegal under international law, and recent months have seen a rise in violence towards Palestinians in the West Bank by settlers. One minister told the BBC: “The statement will be a complete reset of the nature of our Israel-Palestine relationship. It will all feel very different. “It is not just about sanctions.
We hope that this will finally achieve what those of us who have been working towards for two years over the Middle East have been working on.” BBC News has not seen the full details of the measures. But Labour MPs who have been briefed on the plans believe the sanctions will target trade with illegal settlements. They believe that means the sanctions would cover both goods and services. Prime Minister Andy Burnham confirmed to Labour MPs at their weekly parliamentary meeting on Monday night that Miliband would be making the statement, according to a number of MPs present.
The prime minister is also said to have told the meeting that he had briefed international leaders about plans in phone calls on Monday afternoon. Burnham spoke to US President Donald Trump over the phone on Monday, during which the prime minister stressed the importance of a two-state solution in the Middle East. An official account of the call released by No 10 did not specify that Burnham had briefed Trump on the sanctions, while the US – which is likely to strongly oppose the proposals – has not commented. Speaking in July, Stephen Doughty – who was then Europe minister but has since been appointed Middle East minister – told the business select committee that existing powers to impose restrictions on settlements did not go far enough.
He said: “At the moment, we can sanction where there is evidence of it being linked to settler violence, but not, for example, in relation to a contractor working on the settlements. We need to expand our sanctions powers.” While ministers are said to recognise that banning a relatively small quantity of mostly agricultural products is a largely symbolic gesture, the government is expected to frame this announcement as a major reset in Britain’s wider policy on Israel. The expected announcement by the UK government comes after Israel opened up tenders for the construction of some 1,200 settlement homes in the so-called E1 area – a strategically important area east of Jerusalem. The plans have drawn widespread international condemnation.
Israel has held off on plans to build in the area for decades under global pressure. Speaking in his first address to Parliament as foreign secretary last week, Miliband said those plans were “illegal under international law”, and called them “the crossing of a red line, as it cuts through the heart of the West Bank and risks making a Palestinian state unviable”. Prime Minister Andy Burnham also warned that Israel’s announcement about the E1 area could “imperil or end” the two-state solution in the Middle East. Tuesday’s expected intervention will come almost a year after Sir Keir Starmer’s government recognised a state of Palestine, and said the UK had a moral responsibility to support a peaceful future for Israelis and Palestinians.
The government believes the prospect of a two-state solution is being jeopardised by the rapid expansion of settlements. The proposal for an independent Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza, with East Jerusalem as its capital, to exist alongside Israel has received international backing over several decades. Israel rejects a two-state solution. The Palestinian Authority backs a two-state solution but Hamas does not because it is opposed to the existence of Israel.
Israel has built about 160 settlements housing 700,000 Jews since it occupied the West Bank and East Jerusalem – land Palestinians want, along with Gaza, for a hoped-for future state – during the 1967 Middle East war. An estimated 3.3 million Palestinians live alongside them. There has been a surge in attacks by settlers on 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. How Israel is expanding settlements in drive to reshape West Bank ‘Israeli settlers laid siege to our home’: Inside a Palestinian village under weekly attack Palestinian parents fear for children’s lives at school as settler attacks grow
