'Performative measures won't do': BDS co-founder tells TNA after UK sanctions West Bank settlements

Britain must end relations with Israel that enable its occupation, apartheid or genocide rather than rely on "performative measures", the co-founder of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement for Palestinian rights told The New Arab, responding to UK Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband's rejection of the boycott movement.

Miliband announced a package of measures on Tuesday targeting illegal Israeli settlements, including an import ban, sanctions and a ban on advertising settlement land in Britain.

However, he stressed that the sanctions would target "illegal settlements and settlement expansion, not Israel", saying Britain would "continue to support important and valued trade with green line Israel".

"For this reason, I wholeheartedly oppose the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions or BDS campaign," Miliband told Parliament.

Omar Barghouti, co-founder of the BDS movement for Palestinian rights, rejected that distinction in comments to The New Arab.

"Whether or not Mr. Miliband or his government like BDS or not is hardly relevant," Barghouti said.

"The UK has very clear obligations under international law, as triggered by the ICJ decisions of 2024 about Israel’s plausible genocide and its illegal occupation and apartheid."

Barghouti said Britain must end "all military, intelligence, trade, financial, academic and other relations with Israel that enable its illegal occupation, apartheid or genocide".

"The BDS movement, led by the largest Palestinian civil society coalition, is calling for exactly what international law demands," he said.

"As a nonviolent movement seeking Freedom, justice and equality for the Indigenous Palestinian people and grounded in international law, we call for intensifying pressure on the UK and other governments to end their ongoing, shameful complicity in Israel’s atrocity crimes against Palestinians."

"That’s a matter of legal and moral duty, not discretion. Nothing less, no rhetorical tricks, or performative measures will do. It’s way past time."

Palestinian figures and rights groups also reacted to Britain's newly announced sanctions on Israeli settlements and import ban, with some describing the measures as a significant shift while calling for wider action against Israel.

Palestinian ambassador to the UK Husam Zomlot described the measures as a "turning point in UK-Palestine relations".

"Today, Britain begins to move from condemnation to consequences, from words to action," Zomlot said in a post on X.

He said it was not possible to "recognise the state of Palestine" while "allowing its territory to be annexed".

Zomlot added that the decision was "long overdue" and "therefore not the end, it must be the beginning".

"Britain should now lead in Europe, across the Commonwealth, and internationally, to ensure that no state, company, bank, or institution contributes to, facilitates, or profits from this illegal occupation," he added.

UK announces settlement sanctions

On Tuesday, Miliband told Parliament that the government would introduce "an import ban on goods from illegal settlements in the occupied territories", in a move coordinated with a number of other countries.

He also accused the Israeli government of turning a "blind eye" to what he called "ethnic cleansing" by settlers in the West Bank.

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

"All too often the Israeli government has turned a blind eye to this, and worse, members of it have made statements and taken actions to support the forced displacement of Palestinians," he told MPs.

Miliband also announced that Britain would "take action against specific companies and individuals who provide services such as construction, infrastructure, financing, or real estate for settlement expansion".

He said the measures would be in place within six to nine months.

Miliband added that the UK was sanctioning "a further set of extremist settlers who have supported or incited acts of violence against Palestinian communities".

The UK also joined Canada, France and other European countries in coordinated action against settlement trade as Israel accelerates expansion in the occupied West Bank.

Rights groups welcome 'substantial shift'

Several rights organisations welcomed the move as a sign that the UK was prepared to take stronger action against Israel's settlement project, while arguing that further measures were needed.

"We welcome the UK Government's recognition that Israel's occupation is unlawful and its commitments to a package of actions," Steve Cutts, CEO of Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP), said in a statement.

"The decision to ban imports of goods from illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank and take action against specific services that sustain them is a substantial and welcome shift, and a hopeful signal that the UK is finally ready to take action against Israel's settlement project and policy of ethnic cleansing after decades of impunity."

"The ban remains one of the key actions the UK must take to fulfil its legal obligation and implement the International Court of Justice Advisory Opinion," Jean McLean, Chief Influencing Officer at UK charity Oxfam, said in separate remarks.

"UK-settlement trade is driving human rights violations and entrenching Israel's illegal occupation of Palestinian land. Settler and state-led violence is surging."

McLean continued: "British-made arms components fuel ongoing genocide in Gaza, continuing to kill and maim civilians."

The British government had already suspended more than 30 export licences for arms used by the Israeli military during its war in the Gaza Strip, with Miliband vowing that Britain would now "refuse all licence applications for arms and other exports that materially contribute to the occupation".

Calls for wider sanctions on Israel

Barghouti had separately described the measures targeting settlements as insufficient, arguing that Britain continued to maintain relations with Israel itself.

"The announced UK measures against Israel's settlements are largely performative and ineffective, yet they also reflect the impact of relentless public pressure on the current government," Barghouti said.

"The UK is going after a crime while continuing to be complicit with the serial criminal."

The British Palestinian Committee also commented on the decision, saying it signalled "a shift in position from the previous Labour administration" under former Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who was criticised over his handling of the government's response to the Gaza war.

The committee called for stronger measures, including "comprehensive sanctions on the Israeli state; further targeted sanctions on Israeli ministers and officials responsible for grave violations of international law; and supporting the enforcement of international arrest warrants and the prosecution of Israeli leaders wanted in The Hague for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity."

The statement added: "Significantly, a two-way ban on arms trade is essential, including the continued provision of components and support that enable Israel's military operations."

UK activist group Friends of Al Aqsa also called for further action, arguing that stronger measures were needed to bring about an "actual meaningful reset in British policy towards Israel".

"The Government must introduce a full ban on Israeli goods and services, not just settlements, impose a bilateral arms embargo ending all military and intelligence cooperation, and impose targeted sanctions on Israeli officials responsible for serious violations of international law," Shamiul Joarder, director at Friends of Al Aqsa, said in a statement.

Meanwhile, Afzal Khan, UK Labour MP for Manchester Rusholme, welcomed the package of sanctions targeting illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank, arguing that "more concrete action like these sanctions are well overdue after the continuing ethnic cleansing resulting from land grabs in the West Bank and the genocide happening in Gaza."

He added: "This Israeli Government continues to let settlers push Palestinians from their land. It is wrong, it is illegal and it is utterly at odds with any moral standards."

Israel presses ahead with E1 settlement plan

On the same day as Miliband's announcement, an Israeli court rejected a bid to halt the controversial E1 settlement plan, approved by Israel last year.

The plan involves the development of a settlement in the occupied West Bank that critics warn would severely undermine the territorial contiguity of a future Palestinian state.

The Jerusalem District Court said it had dismissed a motion seeking to prevent the publication of tenders for the settlement east of Jerusalem.

The decision came after Israel's Construction and Housing Ministry opened a tender in July for the construction of more than 1,200 housing units, prompting NGOs to file motions against the plans.

Israel seized the West Bank during the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. The territory is expected to form the main part of a future Palestinian state, and Israeli settlements there are considered illegal under international law.