The United Kingdom is set to impose a ban on trade in goods and some services from illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband announced Tuesday in what the government has described as a comprehensive reset of British policy on Israel and Palestine. The measures, outlined in a statement to Members of Parliament, include restrictions covering agricultural products, financing, and advertising linked to settlements, and are framed by ministers as a necessary step to uphold international law and protect the viability of a Palestinian state.
The West Bank, a territory Israel has occupied since the 1967 Middle East war, is home to around 160 Israeli settlements housing approximately 700,000 people, alongside an estimated 3.3 million Palestinians. All Israeli civilian settlements built there are considered illegal under international law, a position the UK has long held officially. Despite longstanding guidance urging businesses to avoid economic activity in settlements, the new measures go further by making such investments unlawful. A trade ban on goods has been on the table for years, but the Foreign Office had previously argued it was impossible to distinguish settlement products from those originating inside Israel proper; Tuesday's announcement sets aside that position. Some elements of the ban may require primary legislation rather than a simpler statutory instrument.
The announcement is partly driven by Israel's plans to develop the E1 corridor east of Jerusalem — a strategically significant area whose construction, critics warn, would effectively cut the West Bank in two and make a contiguous Palestinian state unviable. Prime Minister Andy Burnham, who briefed US President Donald Trump and Gulf allies including Qatar by phone on Monday ahead of the announcement, has called the E1 plans a threat that could "imperil or end" the two-state solution. The government also cited a surge in settler violence against Palestinians since the Gaza war began following Hamas's October 2023 attack on Israel.
The announcement has drawn sharp reactions. Israel has threatened retaliation over previous British criticisms of its conduct, and its far-right finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, reportedly called for the British ambassador to be expelled. The US ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, has accused the Labour government of harbouring antisemitic sentiment. Washington, which broadly opposes pressure on Israel over settlements, has not formally commented on the trade ban. Despite the diplomatic friction, polling conducted by Opinium for the European Council on Foreign Relations shows that 46% of UK adults support a trade ban on settlement goods, with only 18% opposed — a margin of more than two to one.
The reset stops short of several demands made by Palestinian advocacy groups: it does not include sanctions over aid restrictions into Gaza, nor does it characterise events there as genocide. Nevertheless, Miliband's statement is expected to invoke the findings of both the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice — two bodies currently under pressure from Washington — placing the measures firmly in the context of international legal obligations. Ministers acknowledged that banning a relatively modest volume of mostly agricultural goods is in part a symbolic gesture, but stressed that the policy shift signals a broader change in the UK's diplomatic posture, moving from rhetorical support for a two-state solution toward active steps to prevent its foreclosure.