Topic analysis

UK readies sanctions against Israel to deter proposed illegal West Bank settlement

Move comes as 137 Labour MPs sign letter demanding ‘urgent, concrete action’ to stop settler violence The UK Foreign Office and a group of western countries are due to announce a package of sanctions against Israel this week designed to deter companies from becoming involved in a proposed West Bank settlement that would split the territory in two and render the concept of a two-state solution near impossible. Nine countries including France, the UK and Australia have warned that settlement violence must stop and no company should be involved in what is known as the E1 development. Tenders were opened this month for the development of more than 3,000 homes between Jerusalem and the Ma’ale Adumim. The development would split the West Bank between north and south, and so in effect make a contiguous Palestinian West Bank impossible. It comes as 137 Labour MPs – including the former health secretary Wes Streeting, who said this week he felt he was “hitting up against a brick wall” when he tried to raise concerns about Gaza in government – sent a letter to the foreign secretary, Yvette Cooper, urging her to take “urgent, concrete action to counter the escalation of violations against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, in particular by ending trade with illegal Israeli settlements”. Melanie Ward, who organised the letter and was the chief executive of Medical Aid for Palestinians before becoming an MP, said: “Banning settlement trade would send the clearest possible message to Israel that settlements can have no viable economic future and are rejected by the world. This is needed now more than ever.” Last week, the UN committee on the exercise of the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people condemned an order signed by the Israeli finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, to start displacing the Palestinian Bedouin community of Khan al-Ahmar in the occupied West Bank, saying it would “heighten the risk of forced transfer of the civilian population” and calling such a move illegal and a war crime. The MPs’ letter said Khan al-Ahmar was “in a gruelling struggle against erasure, displacement and state-backed settler violence as part of Israel’s E1 plan,” which it said sought to bisect the West Bank and would “make the two-state solution that we all want to see an impossibility”. The letter to Cooper, signed by the chairs of every Labour-led select committee, the former safeguarding minister Jess Phillips and the chair of the foreign affairs select committee, Emily Thornberry, states that despite the government’s February 2026 pledge to take “concrete steps” to counter “threats of forcible displacements and annexation”, the “situation has worsened considerably and the government has taken no further action. This is unacceptable.” The letter urges Cooper to follow other European countries such as Spain, which has begun to enforce a ban on products originating “from Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory”. Ireland , the Netherlands and Belgium are in the process of legislating for bans. The letter states: “The case for ending trade with settlements is clear. The international court of justice has directed third states not to enter into ‘trade dealings with Israel concerning the occupied Palestinian territory’, which is widely interpreted as meaning states must not trade with settlements.” It argues that the UK would not need primary legislation to enact a ban as there is “a precedent in UK law and policy of not trading with illegally occupied lands”, including Crimea and other illegally occupied parts of Ukraine. On 22 May, nine western countries issued a joint statement saying: “The E1 settlement development would divide the West Bank in two and mark a serious breach of international law. Businesses should not bid for construction tenders for E1 or other settlement developments. They should be aware of legal and reputational consequences of participating in settlement construction including the risk of involving themselves in serious breaches of international law.” The UK package is expected to spell out how UK firms would be hit with sanctions for having any involvement in E1 as well impose new sanctions on those entities supporting settler violence. It is not clear if the UK will go so far as to ban trade with illegal settlements. The UK all-party parliamentary group on Palestine had already written letters to 43 UK companies with previous links to Israel instructing them not to bid for tenders. Last August, the UK imposed sanctions on Itamar Ben Gvir, the security minister, and Smotrich, but the EU drew back from doing so last month owing to internal opposition and the need for unanimity. That decision is now being reviewed and the Czech Republic is said to be holding out. Smotrich has said the E1 settlement will bury the idea of a Palestinian state. He described it as “Zionism as its best – building, settling and strengthening our sovereignty in the land of Israel”. Jean-Noël Barrot, the French foreign minister, said at the weekend: “I have pushed for sanctions to be imposed not only on those responsible for this violence but also ‌on the entities, companies and organisations in Israel that are providing these extremist settlers with the ⁠means to ⁠drive Palestinians from their land, burn their crops and destroy their public buildings.” Meetings are under way in Cairo with Hamas, the dominant Palestinian faction in Gaza, to try to break the deadlock over that territory, where Israel is threatening to expand the areas they control and have stepped up their attacks. Hamas told envoys from Donald Trump’s Board of Peace and the mediators Egypt, Qatar and Turkey that ending Israeli attacks in Gaza was essential for any progress.