UK Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband is expected to announce today a ban on trade in goods and certain services from illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank.
He has also told civil society organisations that he is determined to reaffirm the UK’s support for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, calling for the protection of Palestinian rights and respect for international law.
On Tuesday, the US ambassador to Israel said the United States could retaliate against the UK, warning that such a move would “cause great harm to any British businesses operating in several US states.”
Ireland introduced a similar measure in July, passing legislation to ban trade in goods from the occupied West Bank.
He said he did not “know what all the national sanctions, consequences or retaliation from the US will be, as they have not yet been announced,” but added that Florida, one of the largest US states, has a law under which, if the UK goes ahead with the decision, British businesses would be unable to do business with any company in the state.
The measures to be announced by the UK foreign secretary are unlikely to meet all the demands of pro-Palestinian organisations.
However, according to The Guardian, they will signal that the UK is taking more active steps to prevent the expansion of illegal settlements in the West Bank.
Source: The Guardian
