There’s been a broad spectrum of reactions to the UK government’s decision to introduce a ban on trade in goods and services from illegal Israeli settlements. These have ranged from “it’s about time”, to “too little, too late” to “pathetic undergraduate politics” (this last from someone I was chatting to after the announcement was made on Tuesday).
But for anyone who has been watching the Occupied Palestinian Territories this year, the regular reports of illegal land grabs and violence enacted by some settler groups on Palestinians in the West Bank, many of whose families have lived there for generations, has been more than distressing. It’s easy to see why the Burnham government felt it needed to take action alongside 11 other countries.
