Canada, U.K., France to ban trade of goods from Israeli settlements in occupied West Bank

Canada, U.K., France to ban trade of goods from Israeli settlements in occupied West Bank

Israel to close British consulate in East Jerusalem in response to joint trade measures

In a packed British Parliament Tuesday, MPs gathered to listen to the government reset its relationship with Israel.

Nodding alongside his cabinet ministers, Prime Minister Andy Burnham, who came to power seven weeks ago, listened intently as his equally new Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband, himself Jewish, announced a ban on settler trade from the occupied West Bank. He said Canada and France would take similar actions.

"Today, France and Canada are announcing alongside Britain that they will also ban the import of goods from illegal settlements," Miliband said.

Cheers echoed through the parliamentary chamber. Miliband noted the three countries are not alone in taking action against Israel’s continued expansion of settlements in the occupied West Bank.

"The Netherlands, Ireland, Belgium, Spain and Norway, which have either banned goods or are in the process of doing so, with many other countries, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Poland, Portugal and Sweden, [are] pledging today they will support further action."

Miliband said the U.K. will also take action "against specific companies and individuals who provide services such as construction, infrastructure, financing or real estate for settlement expansion."

To another loud round of cheers, he said: "You will face the full force of U.K. sanctions."

Miliband said the U.K.'s action was coming now because Israel had crossed a "long-term red line," in reference to its recent announcement that it had opened tenders for construction of 1,200 settler homes in an area known as E1 in the occupied West Bank.

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The United Nations and most countries deem the settlements illegal under Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention pertaining to military occupations. Israel rejects this, viewing the area as disputed rather than occupied.

It is nearly a year since Canada, the U.K. and France announced their governments would recognize the state of Palestine.

A sharp rise in reported violence in the occupied West Bank was another reason the U.K. had decided on sanctions, Miliband said.

"The British government," Miliband told parliamentarians, "agrees that there is ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in areas of the West Bank, perpetrated by settler terrorists."

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Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar accused his British counterpart of "outrageous lies."

Sa'ar said Israel would undertake countermeasures, including expelling U.K. representatives from a joint military centre monitoring the Gaza ceasefire and ending U.K. training of the Palestinian Authority's security forces in the West Bank.

In addition, Israel will close Britain's consulate in East Jerusalem and prevent the entry into Israel of 12 elected U.K. officials, as well as other British citizens Sa'ar said were "involved in antisemitic and anti-Israel activity."

The seeds of change in the U.K.’s relationship with Israel were evident months ago.

In the days before Burnham became prime minister in July, he indicated a reset. He apologized for the governing Labour Party’s initial response to Israel’s military action in Gaza, saying the party "didn’t get it right" and under his leadership needs to "do better."

Anna Cunningham is a freelance correspondent in London, England. She has reported for the CBC since 2009, and was previously based in Mumbai, Paris and Lagos, Nigeria.

With files from The Associated Press