The International Court of Justice, in its 2024 advisory opinion, clarified that the settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem had “been established and are being maintained in violation of international law”. It also found that “the State of Israel is under an obligation to bring to an end its unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory as rapidly as possible”.
Specific individuals associated with settlement expansion in the West Bank have been sanctioned in piecemeal fashion by Israel’s allies. Now, even Mike Huckabee, US ambassador to Israel and an avid Christian Zionist, has condemned the actions of “settler terrorists” while demanding “severe consequences”.
Twelve countries, largely friendly to Israel, have decided to take a firmer stand on the illegally Occupied West Bank.
Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Iceland, Ireland, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and Britain have confirmed “their intention to introduce national and/or support European restrictions on trade in goods with settlements which are illegal under international law, or that they are actively considering these and other measures, in accordance with their national procedures”.
They demanded that Israel immediately halt the expansion of the settlements and civilian administrative powers in the West Bank. They also want to hold those responsible for settler violence accountable and investigate allegations levelled at Israeli forces. “We firmly oppose actions tantamount to the annexation of Palestinian land and forcible displacement of the Palestinian population.”
Three of the 12 — Britain, France and Canada — issued a separate statement confirming that steps will be taken “to ban the importation of goods from settlements and enforce targeted measures against settlements and those who facilitate or profit from them”.
Having recognised the State of Palestine a year ago, it was, the leaders of the three countries said, time “to take further action to uphold our commitment to protect the two-state solution, our interests and to stand up for our values, before it is too late”.
Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband told the House of Commons on September 8 about the “most unimaginable trauma and suffering over the last three years” in Gaza and the crisis in the West Bank. He quoted the intention of Israel’s Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich to “bury the idea of a Palestinian State”. This, he said, is precisely what signalled the need for “a new approach” — one that takes issue with the Netanyahu government’s actions.
More settlements have been approved in less than four years than in the previous two decades. “Houses bulldozed. Roads and public infrastructure destroyed. Families displaced from their homes,” Miliband said.
Since 2023, 65 Palestinian communities had been removed, with more than 4000 evicted from their homes by settler violence and state action.
Last month, the issuing of E1 tenders for 1200 homes crossed “a long-standing red line”, Miliband said, prospectively evicting the Bedouin communities and installing settlements between East Jerusalem and the West Bank. “Let’s be clear what this means: the creation of a set of facts on the ground to make the two state solution unviable.”
Settler terrorism, where families are being encircled by settlers in such places as Al Mughayir, largely with the blessing of the Israeli military, was condemned.
Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has described their actions as “a violent and criminal effort to ethnically cleanse territories in the West Bank”, as has Ephraim Sneh, a former Minister of Health and retired Brigadier General from the Israeli Defence Forces.
According to Miliband, the violent conduct by settlers met the definition of ethnic cleansing as described by the United Nations, being “a purposeful policy designed by one ethnic or religious group to remove by violent or terror-inspiring means the civilian population of another ethnic or religious group from certain areas”. The settler terrorists were leading the effort.
Admitting that previous British policy on the illegality of the settlements was clear, the legality of Israel’s occupation had not been previously discussed.
Pointing to the 2024 International Court of Justice’s decision, the Andy Burnham Labour government said that “the occupation is unlawful”, manifested by Israel’s entrenched control, intention of extending “permanent sovereignty” and is part of an “expansionist agenda via illegal settlements”.
He said he did “not believe that the British people want us supporting the occupation by accepting products from settlements in our shops and supermarkets”, but added that it would not be along the lines of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) campaign.
Rather, the sanctions would target specific companies and individuals offering services in construction, infrastructure, financing or real estate to aid the settlement agenda. The advertising of illegal settlements will be banned. More extremist settlers would also be sanctioned.
All license applications for arms and other exports materially contributing to the occupation will be refused.
While these measures are in place, the Palestinian Authority is encouraged to accelerate its institutional reforms; Israel, in turn, should release valuable revenue for the provision of essential services in the West Bank.
The Benjamin Netanyahu government’s response was immediate. Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar announced measures to counter the new British policy, including closing the British Consulate in Jerusalem, expelling British representatives from the aid centre for Gaza in Kiryat Gat, halting British training of Palestinian Authority forces in the West Bank and the barring of 12 elected officials and British citizens “involved in anti-Israel and antisemitic activities” from entering the country.
Sa’ar also thanked British Conservatives, for “their firm opposition to the hostile Labour Government’s announcement […] and its series of anti-Israel policies since taking office.”
Whether intentional or not, this new policy reveals a belated acceptance, at least in part, of such assessments as those offered by Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967.
In her July 2025 report, Albanese observed that “post-October 2023, corporate actors have contributed to the acceleration of the displacement-replacement process throughout the military campaign that has pulverized Gaza and displaced the largest number of Palestinians in the West Bank since 1967”.
Among the recommendations are the imposition of sanctions and a complete arms embargo on the Israeli state, covering dual-use items, the suspension of all trade agreements and investment relations and the imposition of sanctions, including the freezing of assets “on entities and individuals involved in activities that may endanger Palestinians”.
Miliband’s proposals and those of his international counterparts differ in confining the sanctions regime to the West Bank settlements (“important and valued trade with green line Israel” would continue), an artificial distinction that fails to account for the broader aspects of the Israeli economy.
Nevertheless, this move suggests a change for countries long considered unlikely to criticise the Jewish state over what has, historically, been euphemistically regarded as the “Palestinian issue”.
[Binoy Kampmark currently lectures at RMIT University.]