{"id":33361,"date":"2026-06-09T09:46:17","date_gmt":"2026-06-09T09:46:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/?p=33361"},"modified":"2026-06-09T09:46:21","modified_gmt":"2026-06-09T09:46:21","slug":"uk-readies-sanctions-against-israel-to-deter-proposed-illegal-west-bank-settlement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/?p=33361","title":{"rendered":"UK readies sanctions against Israel to deter proposed illegal West Bank settlement"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The UK Foreign Office and a group of Western countries are due to announce a package of sanctions against Israel this week, designed to deter companies from becoming involved in a proposed\u00a0West Bank<\/a>\u00a0settlement that would split the territory in two and render the concept of a two-state solution near impossible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nine countries, including France, the UK and Australia, have warned that settlement violence must stop and no company should be involved in what is known as the E1 development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tenders were opened this month for the development of more than 3,000 homes between Jerusalem and Ma\u2019ale Adumim. The development would split the West Bank between north and south, and so in effect make a contiguous Palestinian West Bank impossible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It comes as 137 Labour MPs \u2013 including the former health secretary Wes Streeting, who said this week he felt he was \u201chitting up against a brick wall\u201d<\/a> when he tried to raise concerns about Gaza in government \u2013 sent a letter to the foreign secretary, Yvette Cooper, urging her to take \u201curgent, concrete action to counter the escalation of violations against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, in particular by ending trade with illegal Israeli settlements\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Melanie Ward, who organised the letter and was the chief executive of Medical Aid for Palestinians before becoming an MP, said: \u201cBanning settlement trade would send the clearest possible message to Israel<\/a> that settlements can have no viable economic future and are rejected by the world. This is needed now more than ever.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Two<\/a>
Workers sit in the ruins of shops demolished by Israeli forces in the occupied Palestinian West Bank town of al-Eizariya in May. Photograph: AFP\/Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Last week, the UN committee on the exercise of the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people condemned<\/a> an order signed by the Israeli finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, to start displacing the Palestinian Bedouin community of Khan al-Ahmar in the occupied West Bank, saying it would \u201cheighten the risk of forced transfer of the civilian population\u201d and calling such a move illegal and a war crime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The MPs\u2019 letter said Khan al-Ahmar was \u201cin a gruelling struggle against erasure, displacement and state-backed settler violence as part of Israel\u2019s E1 plan,\u201d which it said sought to bisect the West Bank and would \u201cmake the two-state solution that we all want to see an impossibility\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The letter to Cooper, signed by the chairs of every Labour-led select committee, the former safeguarding minister Jess Phillips and the chair of the foreign affairs select committee, Emily Thornberry, states that despite the government\u2019s February 2026 pledge to take \u201cconcrete steps\u201d to counter \u201cthreats of forcible displacements and annexation\u201d, the \u201csituation has worsened considerably and the government has taken no further action. This is unacceptable.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Bezalel<\/a>
The Israeli finance minister Bezalel Smotrich (left) speaks at a press conference detailing the E1 settlement scheme in August 2025. Photograph: Ronen Zvulun\/Reuters<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The letter urges Cooper to follow other European countries, such as Spain, which has begun to enforce a\u00a0ban on products<\/a>\u00a0originating from Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory.\u00a0Ireland<\/a>, the\u00a0Netherlands<\/a>\u00a0and Belgium are in the process of legislating for bans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The letter states: \u201cThe case for ending trade with settlements is clear. The international court of justice has directed third states not to enter into \u2018trade dealings with Israel concerning the occupied Palestinian territory\u2019, which is widely interpreted as meaning states must not trade with settlements.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It argues that the UK would not need primary legislation to enact a ban as there is \u201ca precedent in UK law and policy of not trading with illegally occupied lands\u201d, including Crimea and other illegally occupied parts of Ukraine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On 22 May, nine Western countries issued a joint statement saying: \u201cThe E1 settlement development would divide the West Bank in two and mark a serious breach of international law. Businesses should not bid for construction tenders for E1 or other settlement developments. They should be aware of legal and reputational consequences of participating in settlement construction, including the risk of involving themselves in serious breaches of international law.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The UK package is expected to spell out how UK firms would be hit with sanctions for having any involvement in E1, as well as impose new sanctions on those entities supporting settler violence. It is not clear if the UK will go so far as to ban trade with illegal settlements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\u2018In
\u2018In Israel\u2019s eyes, we are terrorists\u2019 | In search of Palestine: episode 1 \u2013 video<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The UK all-party parliamentary group on\u00a0Palestine<\/a>\u00a0had already written letters to 43 UK companies with previous links to Israel, instructing them not to bid for tenders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last August, the UK imposed sanctions on Itamar Ben Gvir, the security minister, and Smotrich, but the EU drew back from doing so last month owing to internal opposition and the need for unanimity. That decision is now being reviewed and the Czech Republic is said to be holding out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Fahd<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Smotrich has said the E1 settlement will bury the idea of a Palestinian state. He described it as \u201cZionism as its best \u2013 building, settling and strengthening our sovereignty in the land of Israel\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jean-No\u00ebl Barrot, the French foreign minister, said at the weekend: \u201cI have pushed for sanctions to be imposed not only on those responsible for this violence but also \u200con the entities, companies and organisations in Israel that are providing these extremist settlers with the \u2060means to \u2060drive Palestinians from their land, burn their crops and destroy their public buildings.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meetings are underway in Cairo with Hamas, the dominant Palestinian faction in Gaza, to try to break the deadlock over that territory, where Israel is threatening to expand the areas it controls and has stepped up their attacks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hamas told envoys from Donald Trump\u2019s Board of Peace, and the mediators Egypt, Qatar and Turkey that ending Israeli attacks in Gaza was essential for any progress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reference Link:- https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2026\/jun\/07\/uk-sanctions-israel-deter-proposed-west-bank-settlement-palestine<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The UK Foreign Office and a group of Western countries are due to announce a package of sanctions against Israel this week, designed to deter companies from becoming involved in a proposed\u00a0West Bank\u00a0settlement that would split the territory in two and render the concept of a two-state solution near impossible. Nine countries, including France, the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":33363,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"aside","meta":{"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2],"tags":[23876,25547,1737,10003,30312,1510,76,23750,30355,30354,4935,27512,1515],"class_list":["post-33361","post","type-post","status-publish","format-aside","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sample-category","tag-agression-2","tag-annexation","tag-gaza-2","tag-genocide-2","tag-invassion","tag-israel-2","tag-lebanon","tag-starvation-2","tag-uk-ready-to-impose-sanctions-on-israel","tag-uk-strong-stance","tag-war-crimes-2","tag-war-on-iran","tag-west-bank-2","post_format-post-format-aside"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33361","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=33361"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33361\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33364,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33361\/revisions\/33364"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/33363"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=33361"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=33361"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=33361"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}