UK finally sanctions West Bank settlements as pressure grows for Israel arms ban

Britain has announced sanctions targeting trade with illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, marking a significant shift towards concrete action against Israel's expanding settlement project after years of condemnation.

The measures have been welcomed as an important first step, but campaigners and British political figures have called on the government to go further, arguing that targeting settlements alone fails to address Britain's wider economic and military ties with Israel amid its occupation of Palestinian territory and war on Gaza.

Addressing the House of Commons on Tuesday, Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband announced a ban on imports of goods produced in Israeli settlements, alongside restrictions targeting services including construction, infrastructure, financing and real estate linked to settlements.

The government will also prohibit advertising for illegal settlements in the UK and tighten restrictions on arms exports that could materially contribute to Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories. The trade ban is expected to come into force within six to nine months.

"You will face the full force of UK sanctions," Miliband told the House of Commons.

Miliband also accused Israeli settlers of carrying out the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in parts of the occupied West Bank with the backing of the Israeli government.

"The British government agrees that there is ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in areas of the West Bank, perpetrated by settler terrorists," he said- adding that the British government considers Israel's occupation of the West Bank "unlawful".

"The official view of the British government is that the occupation is unlawful, because of Israel’s entrenchment of its control, its intention to extend permanent sovereignty, and its expansionist agenda via illegal settlements," he said.

Under new Prime Minister Andy Burnham, who entered Downing Street in July after Keir Starmer stepped down, the measures signal a tougher approach towards Israel and follow mounting international pressure over settlement expansion and settler violence against Palestinians.

The British government agrees that there is ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in areas of the West Bank, perpetrated by settler terrorists

Chris Doyle, director of the Council for Arab-British Understanding (CAABU), told The New Arab that the measures represented a significant "step towards change" after years in which British condemnation of Israeli settlement expansion was rarely accompanied by tangible action.

"I think it is a real step towards change from a situation in which another country has been giving a green light to continued Israeli settlement expansion, the theft of Palestinian lands and resources, the forcible dispossession of Palestinian communities," Doyle told The New Arab.

However, the measures stop short of targeting Britain's wider trade relationship with Israel, something many have argued is necessary if London is to exert meaningful pressure over Israel's occupation.

Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn welcomed the settlement sanctions as a first step but called on the government to go significantly further.

In a statement posted online on Tuesday, Corbyn pointed to the International Court of Justice's July 2024 advisory opinion that Israel's presence in the occupied Palestinian territories is unlawful.

"Imposing sanctions on illegal Israel settlements is the first step toward the British government fulfilling these obligations," Corbyn said.

"This announcement reflects growing opposition to state-backed settler violence against Palestinians in the West Bank."

But Corbyn argued that targeting settlement goods alone failed to address the extent to which the settlement economy is integrated into Israel's wider economy.

"Israel's unlawful occupation, however, is not limited to illegal settlement goods - and any meaningful package of sanctions would recognise how 'settlement goods' are subsumed into Israel's wider economy," he said.

"That means ending all trade, all military co-operation, and all forms of support that sustain Israel's unlawful presence as a whole."

Corbyn also reiterated his demand for the British government to recognise Israel's actions in Gaza as genocide, impose a full arms embargo, including on F-35 components, and hold a public inquiry into British complicity.

"We are talking about an entire system of apartheid, ethnic cleansing and genocide," he said.

"In the face of ongoing crimes against humanity, piecemeal sanctions against settlement goods won't cut it. The occupation must end - and we will never stop campaigning until there is real justice, peace and freedom for the Palestinian people."

Could the sanctions have an impact?

Britain has a free trade agreement with Israel, while goods produced in Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank were already excluded from preferential tariff treatment.

"Europe is Israel's largest trading partner. Britain, of course, has £6 billion worth of trade with Israel every year," Doyle told The New Arab.

"Now, of course, not all of that is settlements; far from it, but research has shown, for example, that a sixth of all agricultural produce exported from Israel is from settlements to the European Union.

"So what you see now, because of the massive expansion in the size and scale and population of settlements, the settlement economy is much larger, and that therefore such measures can have an impact."

The settlement trade itself accounts for only a small proportion of Britain's overall trade with Israel, meaning the direct economic impact of the import ban is expected to be limited.

But the decision is politically significant because it moves Britain beyond condemning settlements towards imposing economic consequences on activity linked to them.

It also follows scrutiny of Britain's economic links with companies involved in settlements. An Al Jazeera investigation published last month found that 17 companies linked to illegal Israeli settlements held UK public-sector contracts with a combined award value of more than £2.1 billion.

The British government has previously maintained a distinction between economic activity in illegal settlements and its broader trade relationship with Israel. Before Tuesday's announcement, government guidance advised British companies against economic and financial activity in settlements but stopped short of prohibiting it.

Israel and US hit back

Israeli officials reacted angrily to the measures.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog warned that the decision would "fall on the wrong side of history" and accused Britain of interfering in Israel's upcoming election.

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich called for the British ambassador to be expelled, while National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir urged the government to close the British Consulate in East Jerusalem.

US ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee also criticised the sanctions, describing them as "discrimination against the Jewish people" and warning that Britain could face repercussions in the United States.

Despite the outcry from Israeli officials and US Republicans, Doyle questioned whether the measures would immediately alter Israeli government policy, highlighting that the "Netanyahu coalition is extremely deeply pro-settlement".

"They have an election to try to win on the 27th of October, so I don't see that the Netanyahu-led coalition will change," he said.

"The bigger question to my mind is the impact it has on Israeli politics in terms of if there is an alternative of Israeli Prime Minister [Benjamin Netanyahu] by having a new coalition, and whether they realise that pushing forward with very dangerous settlement projects like E1 jeopardises Israel's relations with historic partners and risks further sanctions."

The E1 settlement project east of occupied East Jerusalem has become a particular source of international concern. Israel has advanced plans for thousands of settlement homes in the area, which would further fragment the occupied West Bank and threaten the territorial contiguity of a future Palestinian state.

Doyle said the measures could send a message to Israeli voters that continued settlement expansion and the displacement of Palestinians would carry increasing international consequences.

"So I don't think the impact will be immediate, but hopefully, and if this is handled right, the message should be to Israeli citizens and voters: this is not something that other countries were looking to do but if you continue to build these settlements, to push Palestinian communities off their land, their homes and resources - this is where it is heading, and that Israel cannot be given a climate of impunity any longer."

International pressure grows

Britain's move comes as a wider group of countries prepares measures targeting Israel's settlement economy.

Twelve countries, including Britain, Canada and France, said on Tuesday that they intend to introduce national restrictions, support European restrictions or are actively considering measures targeting trade in goods from Israeli settlements, which are illegal under international law.

Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Ireland, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain and Sweden also joined the statement.

Ireland and Spain have already introduced measures targeting settlement trade, while France has pushed for similar action by the European Union, Israel's largest trading partner, but has faced opposition from some member states.

The foreign ministers warned of "unprecedented levels of settler violence and settlement expansion", demanding that Israel immediately halt settlement expansion, ensure accountability for settler violence and investigate allegations against Israeli forces.

The measures come after Burnham apologised for Labour's initial response to Israel's war on Gaza shortly before becoming prime minister in July, saying the party "didn't get it right".

Burnham also said Britain had been "too slow to call for a ceasefire", while warning that the E1 settlement project could "imperil" or "end" prospects for a two-state solution.

Labour faced widespread criticism over its initial response to Israel's assault on Gaza under former leader Keir Starmer.

In October 2023, Starmer said Israel "has the right" to withhold power and water from Gaza during an interview with LBC, comments he later sought to clarify amid widespread outrage. He repeatedly defended what he described as Israel's right to "self-defence".

His government later suspended some arms-export licences to Israel and increasingly criticised the conduct of Israeli forces and settlers.

Miliband has also said that he "wholeheartedly" opposes the pro-Palestine Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, which advocates boycotts, divestment and economic sanctions against Israel over its treatment of Palestinians.

Britain formally recognised a Palestinian state in September 2025, marking a historic shift in decades of British foreign policy.

However, Britain continues to maintain extensive diplomatic and economic ties with Israel, despite growing pressure for sanctions over its war on Gaza and occupation of Palestinian territory.

More than 500,000 Israeli settlers live in the occupied West Bank, excluding occupied East Jerusalem. Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories are illegal under international law.