The UK government will treat Israel’s occupation of the West Bank as unlawful and will bar imports and services linked to settlements, the foreign secretary announced, unveiling a package of trade and personal measures aimed at halting settler expansion.
Ed Miliband said the policy, coordinated with France and Canada, includes an import ban on goods made in settlements, a sanctions regime designed to block construction and financing for settlement projects, a ban on advertising settlement properties in the UK and targeted personal sanctions on people accused of promoting settler violence. He also said the government will refuse arms licences and other exports that materially contribute to the occupation.
Miliband told MPs the move was prompted in part by Israel’s plans to expand the E1 settlement area east of Jerusalem, which he warned could sever the West Bank geographically and undermine the viability of a Palestinian state. He said approvals for new settlements have risen in recent years, with far more authorised in the last four years than in the previous 20.
In the House of Commons he framed the shift in stark terms, saying, "The British government agrees that there is ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in areas of the West Bank, perpetrated by settler terrorists." He added the package is driven by a mix of moral response and laying groundwork for future accountability.
The new policy builds on steps already taken: ministers have suspended more than 30 arms licences used by the IDF, and Miliband said the approach creates a "double lock" by refusing any licence application that would materially contribute to the occupation.
Alongside settlement measures, the foreign secretary announced sanctions on the financing arm of Lebanese Hezbollah, Al-Qard al-Hassan, and the reimposition of major sanctions on Iran in line with moves by the EU and the US. He declined to label Israel’s conduct in Gaza as genocide, saying that determination should await findings from international courts.
Miliband spoke as a proud British Jew with family who found refuge in Israel after the Holocaust, stressing the measures target government conduct rather than the Israeli people. He presented the package as a shift from condemnation to concrete, enforceable action.
The announcement follows similar restrictions or proposals from several European states, and ministers said the next steps are legislative. The government expects to bring forward laws to enact the imports ban and wider sanctions within nine months, while officials will identify individuals and entities for targeted measures and review export licences under the new material-contribution test. Enforcement regulations are expected in the coming months to put the policy into effect.
