Britain bans trade with illegal Israeli settlements

For one of its first foreign policy moves, the administration of U.K. Prime Minister Andy Burnham has announced a ban on trade with illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank. France and Canada joined the U.K. in its move. Together these three countries issued a joint statement with Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Ireland, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain and Sweden confirming their intention to introduce new restrictions on trade with illegal settlements.

The U.K. government has said the move is to keep alive the possibility of a ‘two State solution’. British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband told the U.K. House of Commons that Canada and France have joined the U.K. in banning such trade.

Mr. Miliband said that a new sanctions regime on illegal settlements would be in place within six to nine months. The sanctions would also include construction, infrastructure financing and real estate companies that assist in settlements. Mr. Miliband announced that the official view o the British government was that the settlements were unlawful, as he called out settler violence and the record number of settlements built under the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the last four years.