UK announces Israeli settlement sanctions despite U.S. economic warnings

The U.K. government is pushing ahead with planned sanctions targeting Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, despite U.S. officials and lawmakers warning of economic consequences for doing so.

Speaking in the country’s parliament on Tuesday, U.K. Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband said Britain would ban imports from Israeli settlements built on land that is internationally recognized as Palestinian territory. The measures are expected to take six to nine months to come into force, he added.

“Today I announce that the official view of the British government is that the occupation [of the West Bank] is unlawful,” Miliband told British lawmakers. “The government believes the unlawfulness of the occupation should be reflected in the economic relationships we choose to have with the occupied territories.”

Miliband said the British government agreed that there is ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in areas of the West Bank, “perpetrated by settler terrorists.”

“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 displacement of Palestinians,” he said. “It should be the prelude to justice.”

CNBC reached out to the Israeli government for comment.

Alongside the roll-out of a “comprehensive sanctions regime,” Miliband said the British government would take action against specific companies and individuals that provide services such as construction, infrastructure, or financing for real estate expansion by settlers. The U.K. will also ban advertisements related to the settlements.

“To those who finance or facilitate illegal settlements, let me say this: you will face the full force of U.K. sanctions,” he said, but he stressed that the U.K. would continue to trade with Israel, “precisely because we support the two-state solution, including security and prosperity for Israel.”

However, Miliband said the U.K. would also extend a ban on arms exports to include refusing all license applications for arms and other goods and services “that materially contribute to the occupation.”

He called this an effective “double lock against arms sales” after the U.K. suspended over 30 arms licenses used by the Israel Defense Forces in Gaza.

“This means the ban on such exports will now remain in place as long as the occupation exists,” he told lawmakers.

Last week, Miliband told lawmakers that Israel’s recent issuance of tenders for the E1 settlement in the occupied West Bank was “the crossing of a red line.”

“Israeli settlements are illegal under international law,” he said at the time. “This Government will not acquiesce in the destruction of the two-state solution — we will act. I will set out a comprehensive set of measures in the coming weeks.”