News Story

The UK accused the Israeli government of turning a blind eye to the “ethnic cleansing” of Palestinians as Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband risked an international backlash by announcing sanctions on illegal West Bank settlements.

Both Israel and the US have criticised the UK’s stance, which will see a ban on imports from illegal settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories and sanctions on individuals and firms providing services to settlers.

Mr Miliband said the British Government believed the occupation as a whole was unlawful, going beyond the previous position that only described the settlements themselves as illegal.

And he said there was increasing evidence that Israel had committed war crimes in Gaza, but stopped short of saying it was responsible for a genocide maintaining the UK’s position that could only be decided by international courts.

The reset in the UK’s approach under Andy Burnham has already triggered a backlash from Donald Trump’s White House and Benjamin Netanyahu’s Israel.

But Mr Miliband told MPs the “new approach” was necessary because plans for the E1 development in the West Bank would render a two-state solution “unviable” by “cutting through the heart of Palestine”.

He said more settlements had been approved under the four years of Mr Netanyahu’s government than in the previous 20 years, and settler terrorism in the West Bank was “rampant”.

“The British government agrees that there is ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in areas of the West Bank perpetrated by settler terrorists,” Mr Miliband told the Commons.

“And all too often the Israeli government has turned a blind eye to this and worse, members of it have made statements and taken actions to support the forced displacement of Palestinians.”

Announcing an import ban on goods from illegal settlements, he said: “I do not believe the British people want us supporting the occupation by accepting products from settlements in our shops and supermarkets.”

A new comprehensive sanctions regime will target companies and individuals providing services such as financing and construction for the settlements.

There will also be a ban on advertising in the UK of illegal settlements.

Legislation for the new regime could take up to nine months to put in place, Mr Miliband said, but he promised immediate sanctions against “extremist settlers who have supported or incited acts of violence”.

Mr Miliband said the Government would now refuse all applications for the export of weapons and equipment that would “materially contribute to the occupation”.

On Gaza, the Foreign Secretary said there had been “the most unimaginable trauma and suffering” which was “a stain on the conscience of the world and of this country too”.

In a criticism of Sir Keir Starmer’s administration, in which he served, Mr Miliband said new Prime Minister Mr Burnham was “right to say that the Labour government has not done enough in the face of what is happening”.

The Foreign Secretary acknowledged Israel had “the right not to live in fear of vile terrorism” and to defend its territory and people following the Hamas attacks on October 7, 2023.

“But that cannot justify what has happened in Gaza,” he said.