Defending the move on Wednesday, Miliband told the BBC the UK had to "call out" settlement activity before it was "too late" to save the two-state solution, which he said is "being destroyed by the facts on the ground." Eleven other countries have announced or already imposed similar restrictions.
The Sharpest Language a British Foreign Secretary Has Used
The BBC's chief international correspondent Lyse Doucet called it a defining moment in UK-Israel relations: no British foreign secretary has used language this stark. Miliband went beyond the long-standing British position that settlements are illegal, underscoring, in line with the International Court of Justice's ruling two years ago, that Israel's occupation is illegal in its entirety.
The trigger was the acceleration of settlement building, at record rates, and above all the tender for construction in E1, a tract at the heart of the West Bank whose development would cut the territory in two. Israel's far-right finance minister Bezalel Smotrich has said openly that building E1 would "bury the idea of a Palestinian state." Miliband's "settler terrorists" language notably echoes the US ambassador's own description of settlers as "terrorists" after the days-long siege of a Palestinian village. Israel has built around 160 settlements housing some 700,000 people in the West Bank since occupying it in 1967; about 3.3 million Palestinians live there.
Israel's Response: "Antisemitic Decrees"
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government called the British measures "antisemitic decrees" and answered with the consulate closure, the travel bans and restrictions on UK diplomatic activity. The Board of Deputies of British Jews criticized the government's move, and Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis warned the sanctions could fuel antisemitism against Jewish people in Britain.
Miliband rejected that claim directly, saying the steps target the policies of the Israeli government, not the Israeli people, and insisting the UK acted "as a friend of Israel." Greens leader Zack Polanski said he was "proud" his MPs had been "staunch in their standing up for peace."
Why Now
The two-state solution has been receding for years, but the E1 tender is seen by diplomats as a potentially fatal blow, and it lands on a government that has already rejected Trump's 15-point Gaza peace plan and demanded Hamas's full disarmament. Miliband's argument, repeated across Wednesday's interviews, is that waiting any longer would mean sanctioning a corpse: act now, while a Palestinian state alongside Israel remains at least theoretically possible, or accept its burial by construction. Whether an import ban on settlement goods, a measure more symbolic than economically painful, can slow bulldozers is the question now hanging over politics on both sides, and over the 11 countries that followed London's lead.
Frequently Asked Questions
- What did the UK announce?
- A ban on imports of goods from Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, announced by Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband in Parliament on Tuesday, alongside his accusation that "settler terrorists" are carrying out "ethnic cleansing."
- How did Israel respond?
- With four counter-measures: closing the UK consulate in Jerusalem within 30 days, banning all five Green Party MPs from entering Israel, and restrictions on British diplomatic activity. The government called the measures "antisemitic decrees."
- Why are Israeli settlements controversial?
- All settlements in the West Bank are illegal under international law, a position the ICJ reinforced two years ago when it ruled Israel's occupation illegal in its entirety. Israel disputes this. Around 700,000 settlers now live among 3.3 million Palestinians.
- What is E1?
- A tract of land east of Jerusalem whose development would effectively cut the West Bank in two. Israel's recent call for construction tenders there is viewed by many diplomats as a fatal blow to a contiguous Palestinian state.
