The government is “in discussion” over a trade ban on goods from Israeli West Bank settlements, a minister has confirmed.
Foreign Office minister Hamish Falconer said the UK was looking for “concrete steps” to counter settlement expansion, while “settler violence remains at record levels”.
He criticised the E1 project, which would see Israel build more than 3,000 homes in the Palestinian West Bank, which Falconer said would divide the area “in two” and “mark a serious breach of international law”.
Falconer told the Commons on Wednesday that the government was looking at introducing a trade ban.
His comment came after Dame Emily Thornberry, who chairs the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee, said allies, including the Netherlands, Ireland, and Norway, have introduced a “full trade ban on Israeli goods coming from illegal settlements”.
The Labour MP for Islington South and Finsbury said those countries had decided it was “the right thing to do”, asking when the UK would join them.
Falconer responded: “In our discussions with our counterparts, there are a number of technical difficulties that people are encountering, particularly those in the European Union.
“But I would just be clear to the House, I am confirming today that we are in discussions about such measures.”
He earlier said: “We are in discussion with partners, including discussions with those few countries who have explored how bans to settlement trade might work.
“We are looking at further concrete steps to counter settlement expansion and to promote peace and security.
“It is only through a negotiated two-state solution, not unilateral action, that a viable path to long-term peace can be achieved.”
Matt Western, Labour MP for Warwick and Leamington, who recently travelled to the West Bank, called for the UK to suspend its free trade agreement with Israel.
“The proposed settlement would absolutely and permanently destroy any prospect of a true two-state solution,” he told the Commons.
“It is a large area of land which would split the West Bank from north to south, severing connections between Palestinian communities and East Jerusalem.”
He added: “It is clear Israel is systematically and deliberately doing all it can to make a two-state solution impossible, and its impunity must end.”
Falconer responded that the Prime Minister has been “crystal clear” there would be “implications and consequences” if the E1 settlement continues and said businesses in the region will “want to consider carefully” being involved.
He also said the government has been “concerned” by the advertisement of settlement property in the UK and charitable links with settlements.
He said he has written to the Advertising Standards Authority and Charity Commission on the issue.
During the urgent question, Falconer also confirmed the Foreign Office unit tracking potential breaches of international law by Israel was not closed, after previous reports suggested it had been.
He said: “The unit was not closed, it was moved. The function still remains within the Foreign Office. We still receive assessments. There has been some reorganisation within the department.”
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