Taking action

Last week Britain imposed a ban on the import of all goods produced by illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, in the country’s most significant policy shift since London’s belated recognition of Palestinian statehood last year.

In a speech to Parliament, UK Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband accused Israel of carrying out “ethnic cleansing” in Palestine and affirmed that it is official British policy that the Israeli settlements – which are expanding at an accelerated pace across the occupied West Bank – are “unlawful.” While he said he did not think “the British people want us supporting the occupation by accepting products from settlements in our shops,” he also announced tougher restrictions on arms sales to Israel. It is significant that Ed Miliband is Jewish like his brother David who preceded him in this post (2007-2010).

Ed Miliband should have the support of British public opinion on this issue as only 7–15 per cent supports Israel or believes Britain should continue to ally with Israel, according to recent polls.

Miliband and the Foreign Office have formed a dozen-nation coalition, including France and Canada, that pressed for unity on this issue. The European Union, influenced by Israeli allies, could not have taken such action; while US membership of the G7 would have vetoed such a move.

Britain has not only banned the import of goods from illegal Israeli settlements but also intends to take action on services by targeting individuals and companies that support, facilitate or profit from illegal settlement activity and ban the advertising or promotion of land and property sales in illegal settlements. Miliband seeks to strengthen Britain’s existing global human rights sanctions regime to target those responsible for serious violations of international humanitarian law, including by extremist Israeli settlers against Palestinians.

In response, Israel proclaimed four “countermeasures,” including a ban on a dozen British members of parliament from entering Israel, including former Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn and five members of Parliament from the Green Party. Israel intended to close the British consulate in Jerusalem which primarily serves Palestinians, remove British personnel from the Gaza coordination centre in southern Israel, and close the training programme for Palestinian Authority security forces. These actions harm Israel as much as Palestine. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio reacted by remarking that “obviously, we’re not going to do what the UK has done.”

The neo-conservative Foundation for the Defence of Democracies (FDD) observed, “Bilateral relations between Israel and the United Kingdom have plummeted to depths unseen in the decades since the sunset of the British mandate over Palestine in May 1948.” However, FDD is hardly neutral as it has dubbed Israel a vital US regional ally. Its research has often reflected the security views of the Israeli government and advocated hardline policies against Iran and other regional adversaries.

As Israeli settlements have been “unlawful” for 59 years, it has taken Britain nearly six decades to recognise this uncomfortable fact. United Nations Security Council Resolution 242 of November 1967 reiterated the principle of the “inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by war” and called for Israel’s withdrawal from territories occupied in the June 1967 conflict. In the Golan, for example, about 31,000 Israeli settlers live in 34 illegal settlements among 24,000 Druze, most of whom are Syrian citizens.

The ban is unlikely to have a serious impact as it is not a UK ban on trade with Israel which was worth $8.1 billion in 2025 but only applies to goods from illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied territories. Around 750,000 Israeli settlers live illegally among 3.4 million Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem. On trade, the latest UK government figures, covering the four quarters to the end of March 2026, put total Britain-Palestine trade at $54 million for 2026, an increase from $51 million in 2025. Britain exports to Palestine passenger cars and vehicle engines, beverages and tobacco, cereals, tea, coffee and specialised industrial machinery. Britain also provides financial, security and advisory services.

Among Palestinian exports to Britain are dates, citrus fruit, traditional goods, including olive wood carvings of nativity scenes and boxes, cross-stitch embroidered garments and shawls, keffiyeh head scarves, glass from Hebron, ceramics from East Jerusalem, olive oil, olive oil soap from Nablus in the West Bank, and quarried limestone, marble, and pink-to-gold building bricks used locally and sold worldwide.

While relying on trade with Britain – via Israel – Palestinians do not trust Britain for existential reasons. During World War I Britain promised the Arabs statehood in exchange for Arab backing against the Ottoman empire which was allied with Germany. However, Britain also promised to facilitate Jewish immigration to Palestine with the aim of creating a Jewish homeland. From 1936–39 Britain suppressed a Palestinian revolt against Jewish immigration and in 1948 turned Palestine over to the United Nations which, under pressure from the US, voted to partition Palestine between Jews and Palestinians. This led to the 1948–49 war during which Israel seized 78 per cent of Palestine and the prompt recognition of Israel by world powers while Palestinians were termed “Arab refugees” and their rights to be identified as “Palestinians” and possession of their homeland were ignored.

Photo: TNS