LONDON: The United Kingdom on Tuesday blocked imports from Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank amid plans by almost a dozen countries, including France and Canada, to sanction goods from these illegal settlements that undermine the two-state solution.
The trade measures are the latest in a series of actions targeting Israel’s settlement policy and underscore its growing diplomatic isolation among some of its traditional allies. “Today marks a further turning point in our approach to protecting the two-state solution,” UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham, French President Emmanuel Macron and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said in a joint statement.
They added that they would promote their efforts at the UN General Assembly later in September, with France and Canada expected to ban Israeli goods as well.
According to the BBC, the UK sanctions will ban settlement goods but also act against companies and individuals providing services for settlement expansion.
During an address to the UK parliament, British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband accused the Israeli government of turning a “blind eye” to what he called “ethnic cleansing” by the Israeli settlers. He announced Britain would introduce an “import ban on goods from illegal settlements in the occupied territories”. “I do not believe the British people want us supporting the occupation by accepting products from settlements in our shops and supermarkets,” he told the British parliament, flanked by new PM Burnham.
Separately, the foreign ministers of nine other countries, including Denmark, Norway, Poland, Spain and Sweden, also reaffirmed support for a negotiated two-state settlement. “Together, we are resolute: the two-state solution must be protected, and we will take action in pursuit of a just and lasting peace,” they said. Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Ireland, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, and Sweden also plan to issue restrictions on trade with the settlements.
More than 500,000 Israelis live in illegal settlements in the West Bank, among some three million Palestinians. According to an AFP tally based on data from the Palestinian health ministry, Israeli forces or settlers have killed at least 1,105 Palestinians in the territory since the start of the Gaza war.
Given the small volume of exports from the settlements, the trade bans are largely symbolic, and will not dent larger bilateral trade flows, but are part of wider efforts to reinforce support for the two-state solution, just as Israel announced plans for 1,000 new West Bank homes on Tuesday.
US will not join
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Tuesday the United States will not join Britain-led sanctions on trade with Israeli settlements and that it does not want anything to destabilise the West Bank. “Obviously, we’re not going to do what the UK did,” Rubio told journalists of the sanctions before departing on a trip to Latin America, adding: “We don’t want to see anything destabilizing going on right now in the West Bank with so much going on in the region.”
PA welcomes move
The Palestinian Authority welcomed the European countries’ announcement, calling it “an important step” to accountability. “This is an important practical step toward holding the settlement system accountable and demonstrating non-recognition of the unlawful situation created by the occupation,” Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas’s office said in a statement.
Israel closes UK consulate
In response to the sanctions, Israel ordered the closure of Britain’s consulate in Jerusalem. Israel said it would also expel British representatives at a centre monitoring the US-brokered ceasefire plan in Gaza, bar British training for Palestinian Authority forces and ban 12 Britons, mostly members of parliament, from visiting.
The Israeli foreign ministry issued a list of 12 British nationals who will be refused entry if they seek to visit. They include Jeremy Corbyn, the former Labour Party leader, as well as Zarah Sultana, who joined Corbyn in breaking away from Labour to form the left-wing Your Party.
Published in Dawn, September 9th, 2026
