UK government expected to announce restrictions on trade with West Bank settlements

ByPaul Adams, Diplomatic correspondent, Nicholas Watt, Newsnight political editor and Henry Moore.

Key points

• Prime Minister Andy Burnham additionally cautioned that Israel's announcement regarding the E1 area could "imperil or end" the two-state solution in the Middle East.
• The UK administration is to set out new restrictions on buying goods produced in Jewish settlements in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, the BBC understands.
• Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband is projected to outline the measures in the Commons on Tuesday.
• Burnham spoke to US President Donald Trump over the phone on Monday, during which the prime minister stressed the importance of a two-state solution in the Middle East.
• The Palestinian Authority backs a two-state solution but Hamas does not since it is resisted to the existence of Israel.

Meanwhile, the UK administration is to set out new restrictions on buying goods produced in Jewish settlements in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, the BBC understands.

Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband is projected to outline the measures in the Commons on Tuesday. It could include restrictions on trade in agricultural products from settlements.

Last week, Miliband remarked he would unveil a "comprehensive reset" of the British government's policy on Israel.

Meanwhile, the Israeli administration has previously cautioned it would retaliate if any new measures were introduced.

Settlements are illegal under international law, and recent months have seen a rise in violence towards Palestinians in the West Bank by settlers.

One minister informed the BBC: The statement will be a complete reset of the nature of our Israel-Palestine relationship. It will all feel particularly different.

"It is not just regarding sanctions. We hope that this will finally achieve what those of us who have been working towards for two years over the Middle East have been working on." BBC News has not seen the full details of the measures.

But Labour MPs who have been briefed on the intends believe the sanctions will target trade with illegal settlements. They believe that means the sanctions would cover both goods and services.

Prime Minister Andy Burnham confirmed to Labour MPs at their weekly parliamentary session on Monday night that Miliband would be making the statement, according to a number of MPs present.

In practice, the prime minister is additionally stated to have informed the gathering that he had briefed international leaders regarding aims in phone calls on Monday afternoon.

While the US – which is anticipated to strongly oppose the proposals – has not commented, an official account of the call published by No 10 did not specify that Burnham had briefed Trump on the sanctions.

Speaking in July, Stephen Doughty – who was then Europe minister but has since been appointed Middle East minister – informed the business select committee that existing powers to impose restrictions on settlements did not go far enough.

He remarked: "Right now, we can sanction where there is evidence of it being linked to settler violence, but not, for example, in relation to a contractor working on the settlements. We need to expand our sanctions powers."

While ministers are remarked to recognise that banning a relatively small quantity of mostly agricultural products is a largely symbolic gesture, the administration is projected to frame this announcement as a major reset in Britain's wider policy on Israel.

Notably, the projected announcement by the UK administration comes after Israel opened up tenders for the construction of some 1, 200 settlement homes in the so-called E1 area – a strategically significant area east of Jerusalem. The intends have drawn widespread international condemnation.

Israel has held off on intends to build in the area for decades under global pressure.

Speaking in his first address to Parliament as foreign secretary last week, Miliband remarked those aims were "illegal under international law", and called them "the crossing of a red line, as it cuts through the heart of the West Bank and risks making a Palestinian state unviable".

Tuesday's projected intervention will come almost a year after Sir Keir Starmer's administration recognised a state of Palestine, and noted the UK had a moral responsibility to backing a peaceful future for Israelis and Palestinians.

Notably, the administration believes the prospect of a two-state solution is being jeopardised by the rapid expansion of settlements.

Meanwhile, the proposal for an independent Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza, with East Jerusalem as its capital, to exist alongside Israel has received international backing over a number of decades.

Israel rejects a two-state solution. The Palestinian Authority backs a two-state solution but Hamas does not since it is resisted to the existence of Israel.

Israel has built regarding 160 settlements housing 700, 000 Jews since it occupied the West Bank and East Jerusalem – land Palestinians want, along with Gaza, for a hoped-for future state – during the 1967 Middle East war. An estimated 3.3 million Palestinians live alongside them.

There has been a surge in attacks by settlers on Palestinians and their property in the West Bank since the start of the Gaza war. It was triggered by the Hamas-led attack on Israel on 7 October 2023.

In short, UK government expected to announce restrictions on trade with West Bank settlements is the central thread here, and readers can expect follow-up reporting as the picture becomes clearer.