(Bloomberg) — Fresh sanctions being drafted by the UK would ban trade with Israeli settlements in the West Bank, as Prime Minister Andrew Burnham looks to demonstrate a tougher approach toward an issue that’s important to voters of his left-leaning Labour Party.
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Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband is weighing several options in the coming weeks to raise pressure on Israel over its decision to advance home-building in a strategically important part of the West Bank. Those include a new sanctions regime laying measures to prevent the exchange of goods and services with Israeli settlements, according to people familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity about plans that haven’t yet been announced.
Miliband is also looking at expanding existing human rights sanctions to cover the obstruction of aid, the people said, which has been blamed for exacerbating the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. In addition, the foreign secretary may explicitly endorse the International Court of Justice’s non-binding 2024 opinion that Israel’s occupation of territory that Britain now recognizes as the state of Palestine is unlawful.
The moves are being debated in the wake of Israel’s decision to open a tender for the construction of 1,200 settlement homes in the so-called E1 section of the West Bank. Disputes between Israeli settlers and Palestinians have further flared in recent months as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces a tough battle to keep his job in a general election slated for Oct. 27.
Burnham was joined by the leaders of Canada and five European governments, including France, Germany and Italy in a statement on Thursday condemning the housing plan as “unacceptable” and urging Netanyahu to withdraw the tender. This week, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz separately denounced National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir’s call for nightly assassinations in Gaza.
Without elaborating, Miliband on Wednesday pledged what he called targeted sanctions against Israelis participating in the “illegal settlement expansion” in the West Bank to prevent “the destruction of the two-state solution.”
While the foreign secretary hasn’t made any final decisions, he’s preparing an announcement next month ahead of the UN General Assembly, where he’s due to give a speech in part outlining British policy toward Israel. A descendant of Holocaust survivors, Miliband will also address the issue at the governing Labour Party’s upcoming annual conference in Liverpool.