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UK to ban trade with Israeli West Bank settlements in new sanctions
The UK sanctions package, announced by Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband, is designed to increase pressure on Israel over West Bank settlement-related homebuilding and other measures.
UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s government is expected to move ahead on Tuesday with a sanctions package that would ban trade with Israeli settlements in the West Bank, as Britain seeks a tougher stance on an issue central to its Labour Party agenda.
According to SCMP Economy, Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband will announce the new sanctions regime, which is focused on Jewish settlements in the West Bank rather than Israel broadly, with efforts that could include measures aimed at preventing the exchange of goods and services tied to those settlements.
SCMP Economy adds that the UK is also considering steps that extend existing human-rights sanctions to cover obstruction of aid, which has been blamed for worsening the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
The report says Burnham spoke by phone with US President Donald Trump on Monday and that the call included discussion of a two-state solution, which Downing Street described as a signal that the sanctions were coming. It also notes Miliband has been examining whether to explicitly endorse an International Court of Justice 2024 opinion that Britain now considers Israel’s occupation of territory recognized as the state of Palestine unlawful.