France, Britain and Canada are among 12 countries that have backed restrictions on trade with illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. “Today, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Iceland, Ireland, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom confirm their intention to introduce national or European restrictions on trade in goods with settlements that are illegal under international law, or that they are actively considering these and other measures, in accordance with their national procedures,” said the statement by the foreign ministers of the 12 countries on Tuesday. “The actions of the Government of Israel in the West Bank are undermining the possibility of a two-way solution He said Canada and France will also announce a ban on goods from Israeli settlements, while Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Poland, Portugal and Sweden have pledged to “support further action.” The country now had to “act” to oppose the expansion of “Today we refuse to be spectators of further suffering and the destruction of the two-state solution,” Miliband said, referring to Britain’s long-standing support for the two-state solution, which Israel opposes. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said in “Because the West Bank is about to explode: there is frenetic settlement expansion, an outbreak of violence against Palestinians by extremist settlers and acts of terror that have been targeted by the Israeli authorities themselves.” The United States, through its ambassador to Israel, has already criticized the British plan to impose sanctions, while two Israeli ministers called for action to be taken against Britain. Miliband, who became minister of Britain’s Foreign Affairs in July also said the UK’s position is that the occupation in the West Bank is illegal and that London believes there is “ethnic cleansing” of Palestinians in areas of the West Bank. The impact on the £6bn ($8.12bn) annual bilateral trade between the UK and Israel is likely to be minimal, and details on how the UK will differentiate between originating goods are still unclear. of West Bank settlements and products manufactured in Israel. Israeli settlements and outposts in the West Bank are illegal under international law. According to the Palestinian Commission on Colonization and Resistance to the Wall, Israeli settlers now number approximately 780,000 in the West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem. They live in 192 settlements and 400 outposts, representing 71 percent of Area C in. Once they establish a more formal agreement, they often receive retrospective approval from the Israeli government for the agreement. Settlers have laid siege to individual family homes, such as in the Ras al-Ein area of Qusra, cutting off water and other supplies, as well as damaging orchards or harming livestock. Attacks on Palestinian communities by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank, often supported by Israeli forces, have accelerated in recent months since settlers from the Havat Gilad settlement attacked Palestinian homes in the far eastern Tal, southwest of. Nablus — Israel is also pushing ahead with plans for the so-called expansion of the E1 settlement near Jerusalem, which human rights organizations warn would essentially split the West Bank in two, further hampering freedom of movement for Palestinians on both sides and jeopardizing the possibility of a Palestinian state.
