The UK government said on Tuesday that it was banning trade with Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, accusing “settler terrorists” of carrying out ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in the territory.
Get breaking news anytime, anywhere. Download the TOI app now!
Twelve countries, including France and Canada, have announced plans to impose sanctions on trade linked to the settlements.
UK's foreign secretary Ed Miliband said the countries were part of an international coalition. He added that Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Poland, Portugal and Sweden had pledged to “support further action," as cited by AP.
Miliband said the Netherlands, Ireland, Belgium, Spain and Norway had either banned goods from Israeli settlements or were in the process of doing so.
”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.”
The move marks a significant toughening of Britain’s stance towards Israel, whose conduct towards Palestinians under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has faced growing criticism from the UK and other Israeli allies.
The UK, a longtime ally of Israel, recognised Palestinian statehood last year in an attempt to revive dwindling efforts towards a two-state solution.
The centre-left Labour government has previously sanctioned some Israeli settlers and illegal outposts over violence against Palestinians and unauthorised development in the West Bank.
Israeli president Isaac Herzog said 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.
UK prime minister Andy Burnham has also raised concerns over Israel’s E1 settlement project, which would effectively divide the territory in two. Palestinians and rights groups have said the project could undermine hopes for a future Palestinian state.
Under Netanyahu’s ultranationalist government, settlement construction in the West Bank has increased significantly. The international community overwhelmingly considers the settlements illegal and an obstacle to peace. Israel seized the West Bank during the 1967 Middle East war, and the territory is expected to form the main part of a future Palestinian state.
Netanyahu’s government views the West Bank as the biblical and historical homeland of the Jewish people and opposes the creation of a Palestinian state.
