France, the United Kingdom, Canada are among 12 countries that have backed restrictions on trade with illegal Israeli \u2060settlements in the occupied West Bank.<\/p>\n
\u201cToday, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Iceland, Ireland, Norway, \u2060Poland, Portugal, Spain, \u2060Sweden and the UK confirm their intention to introduce national and or support \u2060European restrictions on trade in goods \u2060with settlements which \u2060are illegal under international law, or that they are actively considering these and \u200cother measures, in accordance with their national procedures,\u201d the statement of the 12 countries\u2019 foreign ministers said on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Government of Israel\u2019s \u200cactions in the West Bank are undermining the possibility of a two-state solution,\u201d the statement said.<\/p>\n
The move came soon after UK Foreign Minister Ed Miliband announced sanctions on illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank in coordination with France and \u200cCanada.<\/p>\n
The UK will \u2060introduce an import ban on goods \u2060from Israeli settlements, Miliband told parliament on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
He said that Canada and France will also announce a ban on goods from illegal Israeli settlements, while Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Poland, Portugal and Sweden have pledged to \u201csupport further action\u201d.<\/p>\n
Miliband said that there will also be a comprehensive sanctions regime put in place, adding that the UK could no longer simply \u201ccall out\u201d injustice and suffering, but told the House of Commons that the country now had to \u201cact\u201d to oppose the expansion of settlements.<\/p>\n
\u201cToday we refuse to be bystanders to further suffering and to the destruction of the two-state solution,\u201d Miliband said, referring to the UK\u2019s long-held support for the two-state solution, which Israel opposes.<\/p>\n
Responding to the measures, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said in a statement on Tuesday that\u00a0\u201cthe accusations made today by the Foreign Secretary of the Labour Government in the British Parliament were outrageous lies\u201d.<\/p>\n
He added that Israel \u2060was closing Britain\u2019s consulate in occupied East Jerusalem \u2060accredited to the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank in retaliation.<\/p>\n
Saar also said Britain would no longer be able to allowed \u2060to participate in the \u2060US-led coordination mission for Gaza, that British training of Palestinian \u2060Authority forces in the West Bank \u2060would be \u2060terminated, and that some elected UK officials and other nationals \u200cwould be banned from entering Israel.<\/p>\n
\u201cUnfortunately, a hostile Labour Government is in office, systematically acting against the State of Israel, and it has left us with no choice but to finally respond to its hostile actions,\u201d Saar said.<\/p>\n
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said on X that \u201cFrance is going to put an end \u2060to its commerce with Israeli settlements in Palestine, along with 11 other countries which have also undertaken similar engagements.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy are we doing this?\u201d Barrot asked, adding, \u201cbecause the West Bank is close to exploding \u2013 \u2060there is frenzied expansion of the settlements, a flare up of violence against Palestinians by extremist settlers, and acts of terror which have been attacked by Israeli authorities themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the United States will not join the UK-led sanctions on trade with Israeli settlements, after the US ambassador to Israel had criticised the UK\u2019s decision to impose sanctions.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously, we\u2019re not going to do what the UK did,\u201d Rubio told journalists of the sanctions before departing on a trip to Latin America, adding: \u201cWe don\u2019t want to see anything destabilising going on right now in the West Bank with so much going on in the region.\u201d<\/p>\n
Miliband, who became UK foreign minister in July, also said the UK\u2019s position is that the occupation in the West Bank is unlawful, and that London believes that there is \u201cethnic cleansing\u201d of Palestinians in areas of the West Bank.<\/p>\n
\u201cToday the Foreign Secretary admitted [former Prime Minister] Keir Starmer\u2019s government had got it wrong on Israel. This must be the start, not the end, of putting it right,\u201d Nick Dearden, director of Global Justice Now said in an emailed statement to Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n
\u201cBritain has always said settlements are illegal. It made no sense that we allowed trade and investment which helped these entities, built on the violent forced displacement of Palestinians,\u201d Dearden said.<\/p>\n
Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territory, said Miliband\u2019s comments condemning the \u201cethnic cleansing\u201d of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank by \u201csettler terrorists\u201d signal a \u201cseismic shift\u201d in the UK government\u2019s position.<\/p>\n
Speaking to Al Jazeera, Albanese said the foreign secretary\u2019s remarks amount to the \u201cstrongest condemnation ever issued by the UK government on Israeli occupation\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s an official position on the illegality of the Israeli occupation as a whole and ethnic cleansing,\u201d Albanese said. \u201cThis is huge.\u201d<\/p>\n
Details remain unclear<\/p>\n
The impact on the 6-billion-pound ($8.12bn) annual bilateral trade between the UK and Israel is likely to be minimal, with details remain unclear of how the UK will differentiate between goods originating in West Bank settlements and products made in Israel.<\/p>\n
Israeli settlements and outposts across the West Bank are illegal under international law.<\/p>\n
According to the Palestinian Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission (CRRC), Israeli settlers now number approximately 780,000 across the West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem. They live in 192 settlements and 400 outposts, making up 71 percent of Area C in the West Bank, which is under full Israeli civil and military control, and 91 percent of the Jordan Valley, the commission said.<\/p>\n
Settlers often set up outposts without formal approval around Palestinian villages, from which they launch a campaign of harassment, including killing and stealing livestock, cutting off water, electricity and supplies, and damaging property to drive local residents out. Once they establish a more formal settlement, they often receive retrospective approval from the Israeli government for the settlement.<\/p>\n
In some places more recently, settlers have laid siege to individual family homes, such as in the\u00a0Ras al-Ein area of Qusra<\/a>, cutting off water and other supplies, as well as damaging orchards or harming livestock.<\/p>\n Pogroms against Palestinian communities by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank, which are often supported by Israeli government forces, have gathered pace over the past few months since settlers from the Havat Gilad settlement attacked Palestinian homes<\/a>\u00a0on the eastern edge of Tal, southwest of Nablus.<\/p>\n