Britain Announces Trade Ban on Goods from West Bank Israeli Settlements

Britain has announced a trade ban on goods made in Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank in coordination with France and Canada, the latest sanctions to target Israel as it faces growing diplomatic isolation.

British Foreign Minister Ed Miliband on Tuesday said London could no longer simply “call out” injustice and suffering, but told the House of Commons that the country now had to “act” to oppose the expansion of settlements.

“Today we refuse to be bystanders to further suffering and to the destruction of the two-state solution,” Miliband said, referring to Britain’s long-held support for the two-state idea, which Israel opposes.

The United States, through its ambassador to Israel, has already criticised Britain’s new sanctions, while two Israeli ministers called for measures to be taken against Britain.

Miliband, who became Britain’s foreign minister in July, also said his country’s position was that the occupation in the West Bank was unlawful, and that London believed that there was ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in areas of the West Bank.