Canada, France, UK… 12 Countries to Restrict Trade with Israeli Settlements in West Bank

Foreign ministers from 12 countries, including the United Kingdom (UK), Canada, and France, have confirmed plans to restrict trade in goods with Israeli settlements in the West Bank after increasing attacks by Israeli settlers on Palestinian villages in the occupied territory.

Other countries that signed the joint statement issued by the foreign ministers on Tuesday include Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Ireland, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, and Sweden.

“The government of Israel’s actions in the West Bank are undermining the possibility of a two-state solution,” the ministers said, referring to a plan under which two states — one Israeli and one Palestinian — would live peacefully side by side.

“The situation is rapidly deteriorating amid unprecedented levels of settler violence and settlement expansion.

“The government of Israel must immediately halt the expansion of settlements and civilian administrative powers, ensure accountability for settler violence, and investigate allegations against Israeli forces.”

The move also comes as the Israeli government ramps up settlement construction in the West Bank, which some Western governments fear threatens a two-state solution.

The 12 countries said Israel must immediately halt the expansion of settlements and civilian administrative powers, ensure accountability for settler violence, and investigate allegations against Israeli forces.

Ed Miliband, British foreign minister, accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government of turning a “blind eye” to what he called “ethnic cleansing” by settlers in the West Bank.

Miliband told parliament the UK government would introduce “an import ban on goods from illegal settlements in the occupied territories”, in a move coordinated with other countries.

“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.”

More than 500,000 Israelis live in illegal settlements in the West Bank, alongside some three million Palestinians.

According to an AFP tally based on data from the Palestinian health ministry, Israeli forces or settlers have killed at least 1,105 Palestinians in the territory since the start of the Gaza war.

Israel’s President Isaac Herzog said the declared sanction would “fall on the wrong side of history”.

Israel also ordered the closure of Britain’s consulate in East Jerusalem and banned 12 Britons from entering the country, including Labour Party lawmakers, in response to the sanctions.

Marco Rubio, US secretary of state, said the United States would not join the new sanctions.

Netanyahu has vowed to continue establishing the settlements.