As the UK unveiled sanctions against Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank on Monday, Israel responded with fury, declaring it would shutter Britain’s diplomatic mission to the Palestinians, kick out UK military staff from an international coordination base near Gaza and ban nearly a dozen left-wing British members of parliament from entering into Israel.
The BBC’s Middle East correspondent Lucy Williamson reports from Ma’ale Adumim – an existing Israeli settlement in the occupied West Bank, overlooking Israel’s proposed E1 site. UK Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband, speaking to Parliament on Tuesday, announced sanctions on Israeli settlements in the West Bank “to deter settlement expansion” and “prevent the development of E1”.
The sanctions were launched alongside France and Canada, who in a joint statement with the UK said the action “marks a further turning point in our approach to protecting the two-state solution”. Settlements are illegal under international law, and there has been a rise in violence towards Palestinians in the West Bank by settlers in
Juicy brown and ripening yellow dates dangle down from the branches of each palm tree at Israeli settler farms in the Jordan Valley, in the occupied West Bank. This year, as Israeli growers get ready for a good harvest, they are also preparing for the impact of new Western sanctions against settlements, which are illegal
A school in the occupied West Bank has been surrounded by barbed-wire fencing as Palestinian parents fear for their children’s safety due to the rise of Israeli settler attacks in the area. The isolated village of al-Mughayyir, north-east of Ramallah, has been increasingly surrounded by Jewish settler outposts, and regularly blocked by Israeli forces who
The UK government is to set out new restrictions on buying goods made in Jewish settlements in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, the BBC understands. Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband is expected to outline the measures in the Commons on Tuesday, which could include restrictions on trade in agricultural products from settlements. Last week, Miliband said he
