Sept. 9 (UPI) — Britain, Canada and France announced bans on imports from Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories as international anger mounts against the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over actions they say jeopardize the two-state solution to the conflict.
London also formally declared Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories unlawful and announced additional measures, including sanctions against companies and individuals tied to settlement expansion as well as five settlers accused of carrying out or supporting violence against Palestinians. It expanded its human rights sanctions regime to hasten action against settlement expansion and banned advertising of settlement property in Britain, among other actions, while accusing extremist settlers of perpetrating ethnic cleansing of Palestinians. Legislation underpinning London’s new trade and settlement measures is expected to be in effect within six to nine months.
Along with the three allies, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Ireland, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain and Sweden pledged to introduce national restrictions, support European restrictions or actively consider such measures.
“The two-state solution must be protected, and we will take action in pursuit of a just and lasting peace, based on the New York Declaration adopted one year ago,” the foreign ministers of the dozen nations said Tuesday in a joint statement, referring to a U.N.-backed roadmap for implementing a two-state solution.
“We firmly oppose actions tantamount to the annexation of Palestinian land and forcible displacement of the Palestinian population.”
France separately said that it could not support through trade “a situation that threatens the security of both Israelis and Palestinians as well as peace and stability in the region.”
Prospects of a two-state solution have rapidly declined since the start of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza iin October 2023. During the war, Israel has accelerated settlement expansion, with the Israel Land Authority last month quietly publishing tenders online to construct 1,234 housing units as part of the internationally condemned E1 settlement project of thousands of units in the West Bank.
The E1 project would connect Ma’ale Adumim to Jerusalem, effectively dividing the West Bank into two noncontiguous northern and southern sections. Though Israel has for decades sought to construct the project, shovels have mostly been shelved by international opposition.
Israeli settlements in the West Bank are widely regarded illegal under international law.
Israel condemned the measures as an effort to meddle in its domestic elections, as settlements are an election issue with Israel’s national parliamentary elections scheduled for Oct. 27.
“This is a clear case of singling out the one Jewish state, and the only democracy in the Middle East,” the Embassy of Israel to Canada said in a statement.
“Just like the recognition of the virtual Palestinian state, this unilateral approach won’t improve a single Palestinian life and will contribute to economic insecurity for Palestinians across the West Bank and East Jerusalem.”
Israel has responded to the moves by Britain, ordering the closure of the British Consulate in East Jerusalem, removing British representatives from the International Gaza Support Center in Kiryat Gat and denying entry to 12 British elected representatives and other British nationals “involved in antisemitic and anti-Israel activity,” Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar said.
“The British move is morally distorted and constitutes blatant interference in the affairs of a sovereign state and in its electoral process,” he said.
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