Europe Targets Israeli Settlements as Israel Closes UK Consulate

Israel has ordered the closure of Britain's consulate in East Jerusalem after the United Kingdom, France, Canada and nine other countries announced plans to restrict trade with Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. The measures mark a sharp new deterioration in relations between Israel and some of its closest Western partners, amid escalating settler violence and renewed international concern that settlement expansion is undermining the prospects for a two-state solution.

British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband told Parliament on Tuesday that the UK would impose an import ban on goods produced in Israeli settlements in the occupied territories. He also announced targeted action against companies and individuals involved in construction, infrastructure, financing and real estate linked to settlement expansion.

Miliband accused the Israeli government of turning a "blind eye" to what he described as "ethnic cleansing" carried out by settlers in parts of the West Bank. He said settler violence had included homes being demolished, roads and public infrastructure being destroyed, and families being forced from their homes.

"I do not believe the British people want us supporting the occupation by accepting products from settlements in our shops and supermarkets," Miliband told lawmakers. He added that those who finance or facilitate settlement expansion would "face the full force of UK sanctions."

Miliband said a new approach was necessary because continued settlement development could make a two-state solution impossible. He also said he felt "a deep sense of shame about what has unfolded in Palestine under the eyes of the international community."

France announced a similar ban on goods from Israeli settlements, with Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot saying the West Bank was "on the brink of explosion." He cited what he described as the "frenzied expansion" of settlements, a surge in violence by extremist settlers against Palestinians and acts of terror that had themselves been condemned by Israeli authorities.

The United Kingdom and France joined Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Ireland, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain and Sweden in announcing or supporting restrictions on trade with settlements. The joint statement from the 12 countries said Israel's actions in the West Bank were undermining the possibility of a two-state solution and pointed to "unprecedented levels of settler violence and settlement expansion."

"Together, we are resolute: the two-state solution must be protected, and we will take action in pursuit of a just and lasting peace," the foreign ministers said.

The Netherlands, Ireland, Belgium, Spain and Norway have already banned settlement goods or are moving toward such restrictions, according to Miliband. Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Poland, Portugal and Sweden have pledged to support further action.

France said its decision was coordinated with Britain and Canada and that the details of the ban had yet to be finalized. A French diplomatic source said the measures were not intended as a boycott of Israel itself. The source said the acceleration of settlement construction and the growing violence posed an increasingly serious threat to the stability of the West Bank and the wider region.

The latest measures follow Israel's decision last month to open tenders for about 1,200 housing units in the E1 settlement area. The project, which had been frozen for decades before being approved last year, would further isolate Israeli-annexed East Jerusalem from the rest of the West Bank. The move was widely condemned internationally and has been described by European governments as a major threat to the viability of a future Palestinian state.

Under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing government, settlement construction in the West Bank has accelerated. The territory was captured by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war. Israeli settlements there are considered illegal under international law by the international community, while Netanyahu's government maintains that the West Bank is the historic and biblical homeland of the Jewish people and opposes the creation of a Palestinian state.

More than 500,000 Israelis currently live in settlements in the West Bank, alongside roughly three million Palestinians. An AFP tally based on Palestinian Health Ministry data said Israeli forces or settlers have killed at least 1,105 Palestinians in the territory since the beginning of the Gaza war.

The Palestinian Authority welcomed the British measures as "an important step" toward accountability. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's office said the sanctions demonstrated non-recognition of what it called the unlawful situation created by the occupation and represented a practical step toward holding the settlement system accountable.

British Prime Minister Andy Burnham, French President Emmanuel Macron and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said the new measures were targeted at Israeli settlement policies rather than the Israeli population. In a joint statement, they said the expansion of settlements and increasing settler violence posed a direct and urgent threat to the two-state solution.

Burnham said the restrictions were "carefully judged, targeted steps that are not aimed at the Israeli people, but at the unacceptable policies of the current Israeli government." He said Britain had been too slow to respond to developments in the region and that his government had committed to changing its approach.

The sanctions are expected to have a limited direct economic effect because settlement exports account for only a small share of Israel's overall trade. Much of the settlement economy is agricultural, producing goods such as dates, citrus fruits, herbs and wine. The measures are therefore largely symbolic, but they signal growing frustration among Western governments over Israeli settlement policy and the war in Gaza.

The European Union has so far failed to reach a broader bloc-wide decision because of divisions among member states, including opposition from Germany. An EU foreign affairs spokesperson said the bloc had already adopted three packages of sanctions against extreme settlers and entities linked to them.

Washington has rejected the approach taken by Britain, France and Canada. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the measures could be "destabilising for the West Bank" and confirmed that the United States would not follow those countries in blocking imports from Israeli settlements.

The Israeli government responded angrily. Foreign Minister Gideon Saar ordered the closure of Britain's consulate in East Jerusalem after the sanctions were announced and said Britain would no longer be allowed to participate in the US-led coordination mission for Gaza in Israel. Israel also said British training of Palestinian Authority forces in the West Bank would be terminated.

Saar accused Miliband of making "outrageous lies" and described Britain's actions as "morally distorted" and a "blatant interference in the affairs of a sovereign state and its electoral process." He had earlier warned, "If Britain acts against Israel, Israel will act against Britain."

Israel also announced that 12 British nationals would be barred from entering the country. The list includes former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, his Your Party co-founder and Coventry South MP Zarah Sultana, and Labour MP Diane Abbott. Lawyer Fahad Ansari, director of the anti-Zionist Riverway to Sea organization, was also named among those facing an entry ban.

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich called for the British ambassador to be expelled, while President Isaac Herzog described the British decision as "a grave miscalculation, a decision that will fall on the wrong side of history."

Saar said he had spoken with Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch and shadow foreign secretary Tom Tugendhat to thank them for opposing the sanctions. Badenoch and Tugendhat have criticized the government's approach, with Tugendhat warning that turning Israel into a "pariah" could contribute to sectarian division in Britain and a further rise in antisemitic violence.

Britain's Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis also condemned the measures, calling them "a dark day for British Jews" and accusing the government of "gesture politics." He argued that the restrictions could strengthen the extremism they were intended to combat.

Former Prime Minister Jeremy Corbyn took the opposite position, saying the measures did not go far enough. He called for Britain to end arms sales and military cooperation with Israel, as well as what he described as other forms of support for Israel's policies.

The dispute comes against the backdrop of a wider deterioration in the West Bank since the Hamas attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023, and the subsequent Gaza war. According to the UN human rights office, about 737,000 Israeli settlers were living in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, as of October 2024.

The latest confrontation also highlights the increasingly strained relationship between Israel and several Western governments that have sought to preserve the possibility of a negotiated two-state settlement. With settlement construction expanding and violence continuing, Britain, France, Canada and other countries are now using trade restrictions to signal that they will take unilateral action when they believe Israeli policies are moving the region further away from that goal.