Foreign secretary says British firms should not finance, build or advertise settlements, drawing a threat of retaliation from Israel
LONDON: British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband said on Tuesday that a “comprehensive reset” of UK policy on the Israeli occupation would be undertaken in the coming weeks, citing what he called “appalling settler terrorism” in the West Bank.
Speaking to lawmakers in the House of Commons for the first time since his appointment in July, Miliband said: “We need to look, and we are looking indeed, at our wider economic relationship with the occupied territories and the different tools we have to tackle it.” He added: “I want to be very clear: we do not want British companies financing, constructing, or advertising new settlements.”
The statement drew a rebuttal from the Israeli foreign minister, who vowed retaliatory measures against Britain if sanctions were imposed.
Miliband had previously described an Israeli tender to construct 1,200 settlement homes in the E1 area east of Jerusalem as “illegal under international law”, adding that it was 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 has also warned that the plan for the E1 area could end the two-state solution in the Middle East. — KUNA