UK to announce trade ban on goods from illegal Israeli settlements

The United Kingdom will announce a trade ban on goods from illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, a government minister said, according to British media reports.

Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband is expected to present measures against the expansion of settlements to Parliament on Tuesday, Pensions Minister Pat McFadden said.

“The reason that danger has become more urgent is because of expanded settlement activity in recent weeks and months,” he told Times Radio.

Israel in August opened bidding for 1,234 housing units in its E1 project, a controversial settlement plan that would link settlements in occupied East Jerusalem, which Israel has already illegally annexed, to the Maale Adumim settlement bloc in the West Bank.

Palestinians have warned that advancing the plans would lead to confining Palestinians in the occupied West Bank to “disconnected enclaves surrounded by settlements”.

McFadden did not share details on how a UK ban on settlement goods would be enforced. He said settlement growth in recent weeks and months had made the threat to Palestinian statehood more urgent, but that Israel remained an important trading partner.

“This isn’t intended to be a boycott of all Israeli goods,” he told Sky News.

The move also follows weeks of escalating settler pogroms on Palestinian villages, some drawing rare criticism from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the United States ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee.

However, Netanyahu has previously said he will keep expanding illegal settlements, despite international pressure.

More than 140 Labour MPs have called for a ban on trade with Israeli firms operating in the occupied West Bank, with significant public support for the measure.

On Monday, Prime Minister Andy Burnham, who took office in July, spoke to US President Donald Trump to stress the importance of a two-state solution.

The UK recognised Palestinian statehood one year ago, under Burnham’s predecessor, Keir Starmer.

US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee criticised the reports and said a ban would be an “irrational action”.

“I feel like that it’s a discrimination against the Israeli government,” he told BBC Radio. “It’s discrimination against the Jewish people and I don’t understand the rationale of it.

“And I realise – look, the UK is a sovereign country, they can do what they want, but so is the US,” he added.

Huckabee has previously expressed support for settlements.

More than 500,000 Israelis live in illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank, which is home to some three million Palestinians.

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