British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband said Tuesday that the government would set out a “comprehensive set of measures” in the coming weeks in response to Israeli settlement expansion in the West Bank, saying Britain would not “acquiesce in the destruction of the two-state solution.”
“We can’t stand by and let it happen,” Miliband told parliament, referring to efforts to undermine a two-state solution. He said Prime Minister Andy Burnham had discussed taking further action to ban trade in goods from Israeli settlements, adding that the government was working with allies on its response.
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British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband, in Paris, France, last month. Credit: Leon Neal/Pool via REUTERS
British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband, in Paris, France, last month. Credit: Leon Neal/Pool via REUTERS
His comments come after leading British Jewish organizations urged the government not to impose sanctions on Israeli settlements. U.K. Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis met Miliband on Monday and warned that such measures would be “counter-productive,” while the Jewish Leadership Council and Board of Deputies of British Jews also raised concerns about their potential impact on the country’s Jewish community.
Bloomberg reported earlier this month that the British government is considering banning trade in all goods and services with Israeli settlements in the West Bank. The report followed Israel’s publication of a tender for 1,200 housing units in E1, between Jerusalem and the Ma’ale Adumim settlement.
Miliband previously called the E1 tender an “unacceptable and destructive act” and said the government’s response could include sanctions targeting those involved in settlement expansion.