UK announces sanctions on West Bank settlements prompting furious Israeli response

UPDATE - follow-up to UK announces sanctions on West Bank settlements prompting furious Israeli response: Britain's foreign secretary accuses settlers of carrying out the 'ethnic cleansing' of Palestinians, as Israel responds by shutting the UK consulate in East Jerusalem. The UK has announced sanctions on illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, accusing Israel's government of turning a blind eye to the 'ethnic cleansing' of Palestinians by settlers. Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband said the move marked the 'beginning of a new approach' to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which 'not only calls out injustice and suffering but acts'. The sanctions were launched alongside France and Canada, which 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 recent months. In response, Israel's Foreign Minister Gideon Saar accused Miliband of spreading an 'outrageous lie' and announced counter-measures including shutting the UK's consulate in East Jerusalem. The sanctions will ban settlement goods but also act against companies and individuals providing services for settlement expansion. The UK government agrees that there is ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in areas of the West Bank, perpetrated by settler terrorists. The British government has defined this as a 'purposeful policy designed by one ethnic or religious group to remove by violent means another ethnic or religious group from certain areas'. This position is in line with a 2024 advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice, which holds that the Israeli occupation of the West Bank is unlawful due to the 'entrenchment of its control, its intention to extend permanent sovereignty, and its expansionist agenda via illegal settlements'. As a result, over the next six to nine months, the UK will introduce a new comprehensive sanctions regime.