LONDON — The U.K. government said Tuesday that it’s banning trade with Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, where it says “settler terrorists” are carrying out “ethnic cleansing” of Palestinians.
Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband said that the U.K. will ban imports of all goods from the settlements, and some services including financing, construction, infrastructure, real estate and advertising for settlements. He said that France and Canada would also ban trade in goods from settlements.
It’s a significant toughening of Britain’s stance towards longtime ally Israel, whose conduct towards the Palestinians under Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has increasingly been criticized by the U.K. and other Israeli allies.
Under Netanyahu’s ultranationalist government, settlement construction in the West Bank — seized by Israel in the 1967 Mideast war — has surged. The international community overwhelmingly considers such construction to be illegal and an obstacle to peace.
Netanyahu’s government views the West Bank as the biblical and historical homeland of the Jewish people and is opposed to the creation of a Palestinian state.
”The British government agrees that there is ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in areas of the West Bank, perpetrated by settler terrorists,” Miliband said. He said there had been “houses bulldozed, roads and public infrastructure destroyed, families displaced from their homes.”
He said that he feels “a deep sense of shame about what has unfolded in Palestine under the eyes of the international community.”
“We will not acquiesce in the destruction of the two-state solution,” Miliband said.
The ban on trade would be in place in six to nine months, he said. He said that Canada and France will also announce a ban on goods from Israeli settlements, while Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Poland, Portugal and Sweden have pledged to “support further action.”
The Netherlands, Ireland, Belgium, Spain and Norway have either banned goods from settlements or are in the process of doing so, he said.
Miliband also tightened Britain’s embargo on weapons sales to Israel for use in Gaza to include arms “that materially contribute to the occupation” of Palestinian territories.
The United Kingdom, a longtime ally of Israel, recognized Palestinian statehood last year in an attempt to revive dwindling efforts to achieve a two-state solution.
The center-left Labour Party government has previously sanctioned some Israeli settlers and illegal outposts over violence against Palestinians and illegal development in the West Bank.
U.K. Prime Minister Andy Burnham has voiced concerns about the E1 settlement project approved by Israel, which would effectively cut the territory in two. Palestinians and rights groups say it could destroy hopes for a future Palestinian state.
A tougher line on settlements is likely to be welcomed by many Labour voters and lawmakers, who have urged the government to go further in sanctioning Israel and supporting the Palestinians.
But some Labour members expressed concern that the move could boost support for Netanyahu, who is facing a tough battle for reelection in October, or lead to attacks on British Jews.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog said that the ban would be “a grave miscalculation, a decision that will fall on the wrong side of history.
“In the current context, it would be a gross interference in the democratic elections of a sovereign nation,” he said.
Senior Israeli ministers also condemned the U.K. government’s position before the actual announcement was made. Foreign Minister Gideon Saar warned that “if Britain acts against Israel, Israel will act against Britain.”
Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israel’s hard-line public security minister, called on Netanyahu to recognize Argentina’s claim to the Falkland Islands, a British overseas territory in the South Atlantic known in Argentina as Islas Malvinas.
The move was also criticized by the U.S. ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, who said that it was “discrimination against the Jewish people.” He said that the U.K. could face “repercussions or retaliations” from the U.S. if it imposed the sanctions.
Several U.S. states have laws banning contracts or investments with businesses that boycott Israeli firms, including those based in the West Bank. U.S. Rep. Randy Fines, a Florida Republican, said in a post on social media that the U.K. ban could put at risk “billions of dollars” in trade between British businesses and Florida.
Burnham’s office said that the prime minister spoke with President Trump on Monday and set out “the U.K.’s commitment to working toward peace and security in the region” and achieving a two-state solution. There was no word on how Trump responded.
Lawless writes for the Associated Press. AP writer Megan Mineiro contributed to this report from Jerusalem.
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