The sanctions were launched alongside France and Canada, who in a joint statement with the UK said the action “marks a new turning point in our approach to protecting the two-state solution”. The settlements are illegal under international law and there has been an increase in violence against Palestinians in the West Bank by settlers in recent months. In a statement to MPs, Miliband said: “The British Government agrees that there is ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in areas of the West Bank, carried out by terrorist settlers.” And too often the Israeli government has turned a blind eye to this and, even worse, its members have made statements and taken actions to support the forced displacement of Palestinians. The government’s view was that Israel’s occupation of the West Bank was illegal due to its “entrenchment of control, its intention to extend permanent sovereignty, and its expansionist agenda through illegal settlements.” He said this position, which is in line with a 2024 advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice, should be reflected in the UK’s “economic relationship” with the occupied West Bank. As a result, over the next six to nine months, the UK will introduce “a comprehensive new sanctions regime”, he said. “The sanctions regime will focus on illegal settlements and settlement expansion, not on Israel,” Miliband added. We have many friends in Great Britain. “Unfortunately, we have a hostile Labor government that constantly operates against the State of Israel, and has left us no choice but to respond to its hostile actions.” He added that 11 UK MPs, including Jeremy Corbyn, Diane Abbott and the five sitting Green Party MPs, would be banned from entering Israel, accusing them of “anti-Semitic and anti-Israel activity”. The UK also issued a joint statement with 11 other countries; France, Canada, Denmark, Spain, Finland, Ireland, Iceland, Norway, Poland, Portugal and Sweden. He said the group was unequivocally committed to the two-state solution and would introduce national measures or support European restrictions on trade in goods with settlements in the West Bank.
