UK plans trade ban targeting goods and services from Israeli settlements
Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband is expected to announce a reset in the UK’s relationship with Israel, including restrictions on settlement-linked trade, finance and advertising.
The UK is expected to adopt a tougher policy towards Israel, with Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband set to announce restrictions on goods and some services originating from Israeli settlements in occupied Palestinian territory.
The proposed measures would include settlement-linked financing and advertising, and could make certain investments unlawful. Their final scope, legal basis and implementation arrangements have not been confirmed, with primary legislation potentially required for a trade ban.
The Guardian reported that Miliband will frame the policy around Palestinian rights, international law and renewed support for a two-state solution. He is also expected to use stronger language about humanitarian conditions in Gaza and call for restrictions on aid to be lifted.
The package is not expected to include sanctions over Gaza aid restrictions or a formal characterisation of events in the territory as genocide. Israel’s foreign ministry has denied Miliband’s claim that Israeli forces have unnecessarily restricted aid entering Gaza.
The UK regards Israeli civilian settlements in territory occupied since 1967 as illegal under international law. Settlement goods have not received preferential UK tariff treatment since 2005, while existing guidance discourages misleading labelling and some settlement-related economic activity.
Polling cited by The Guardian found that 46% of UK adults supported banning trade in settlement goods, compared with 18% opposed. The proposed restrictions would target settlement-linked activity rather than trade between the UK and Israel generally.
