LONDON – British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband announced a ban on imports of goods produced in Jewish settlements in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on Tuesday, where he said Israeli settler “terrorists” are carrying out “ethnic cleansing” against Palestinians.
The measures and strong escalation of rhetoric are intended to put pressure on Israel over settlement expansion, which the U.K. says is undermining prospects for establishing a Palestinian state alongside Israel, known as the two-state solution to the conflict.
In a joint statement Canada and France announced similar bans on goods from Israeli settlements, with France also pushing for a European Union-wide ban. They added their names to Ireland, Spain, Norway, Belgium and the Netherlands, which have already taken steps to restrict trade in settlement goods, or are in the process of doing so.
Speaking in the House of Commons, Miliband said, “Our argument is not with the people of Israel, with whom the U.K. has unshakeable bonds, our argument is with the conduct of its government.”“The British government agrees that there is ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in areas of the West Bank, perpetrated by settler terrorists,” Miliband told members of Parliament. He said there had been “houses bulldozed, roads and public infrastructure destroyed, families displaced from their homes.”
Miliband opened his remarks describing himself as “a proud British Jew, someone with the deepest gratitude to the state of Israel for giving a home to my grandmother after she lost her husband, my grandfather, and 60 other family members at the hands of the Nazis.”U.K. among countries to recognize Palestinian statehood
The move comes a year after the United Kingdom joined a number of other countries in recognizing Palestinian statehood in order to restart efforts toward the two-state solution.
“One year ago, we recognised the State of Palestine. The time has come to take further action to uphold our commitment to protect the two-state solution, our interests and to stand up for our values, before it is too late,” British Prime Minister Andy Burnham, French President Emmanuel Macron and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said in a joint statement later Tuesday.
