{"id":618033,"date":"2026-09-08T08:46:13","date_gmt":"2026-09-08T08:46:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/618033\/"},"modified":"2026-09-08T08:46:13","modified_gmt":"2026-09-08T08:46:13","slug":"uk-expected-to-announce-sanctions-on-israeli-settlements-in-occupied-west-bank","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/618033\/","title":{"rendered":"UK expected to announce sanctions on Israeli settlements in occupied West Bank"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Israeli settlements and outposts continue to expand ahead of October electionspublished at 08:56 BST<\/p>\n<p>08:56 BST<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1l98ssq-Contributor etflsgg2\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/af35b27e-ae58-4254-9416-9a1b36a0addd.jpg.webp\" width=\"64\" height=\"64\" class=\"ssrcss-egie1y-Image edrdn950\"\/>Lucy Williamson<br \/>Middle East correspondent, reporting from Jerusalem<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Israel\u2019s current government has pushed forward Jewish settlement in the occupied West Bank at breathtaking speed, approving more than 100 new settlements, including hilltop outposts which were built illegally without Israeli planning permission or government authorisation. <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">\nThe government also lifted a 20-year ban on Israeli settlement in the area around Jenin in the far north West Bank, and has pushed forward long-frozen plans to build 1,200 settlement homes in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/live\/cmp8djn8983gt?post=asset%3Ad4c2f281-a73a-48be-9c78-a50f790e4308#post\" class=\"ssrcss-1e0jzsh-InlineLink e1kn3p7n0\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">the E1 area east of Jerusalem<\/a> \u2013 an act which the UK government described as \u201cunacceptable and destructive\u201d.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">\nBuilding in E1 would effectively divide the West Bank in two.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Last year, Israel\u2019s far-right finance minister Bezalel Smotrich said the plan \u201cfinally buries the idea of a Palestinian state\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">\nWith general elections due in October, settlement monitors say Israel\u2019s fiercely pro-settlement government is in a race to expand Israeli control of the West Bank.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">\nAs settlements and outposts have expanded, settler violence has risen sharply as well.  The UN says injuries related to settler attacks on Palestinians have risen to an average of three a day this year. <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">\nAll Israeli settlements in the West Bank are illegal under international law, but with risks to both Palestinian residents and a future Palestinian state growing, Israel is under new kinds of pressure.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Israeli settlements on outposts pictured on a map from December 2022 to July 2026, which shows more dots on the 2026 graph and thus more settlements. The dots are in black and purple\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/822dd54a-db0e-4e6f-9b7c-f77513d705fa.png.webp\"  width=\"1600\" height=\"1616\" class=\"ssrcss-egie1y-Image edrdn950\"\/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Israeli settlements and outposts continue to expand ahead of October electionspublished at 08:56 BST 08:56 BST Lucy WilliamsonMiddle&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":618034,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-618033","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/618033","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=618033"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/618033\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/618034"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=618033"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=618033"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=618033"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}