Up to 12 countries to impose restrictions on goods from West Bank settlements

A general view of Efrat Jewish Settlement in Bethlehem, West Bank on March 30, 2024. Wisam Hashlamoun/Anadolu/Getty Images Canada and 11 European nations have announced plans to impose trade restrictions on goods originating from Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. In a joint statement, the foreign ministers of Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Iceland, Ireland, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, and Britain warned that the situation in the West Bank is deteriorating rapidly. They pointed to unprecedented levels of settler violence and expansion, asserting that Israeli actions undermine the possibility of achieving a two-state solution. The statement demanded Israel immediately halt settlement expansion and ensure accountability for settler violence, affirming the participating nations’ intention to impose restrictions on trade in goods from settlements, which are considered illegal under international law. Britain announced a ban on the import of settlement products and the imposition of “maximum legal sanctions” against the settlements and those involved with them, amidst a sharp escalation in tensions with Tel Aviv—a situation that even led Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich to call for the expulsion of the British ambassador. France also announced its intention to ban settlement products. In London, British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband announced a package of measures against the settlements before the House of Commons, asserting that his government acknowledges the existence of ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in parts of the West Bank—a situation the Israeli government has frequently turned a blind eye to. These measures come against a backdrop of settlement expansion, particularly the issuance of a tender to build approximately 1,200 units in the strategic “E1” area east of Jerusalem—a project London has warned threatens the viability of a geographically contiguous Palestinian state.