Prime Minister Andy Burnham is reportedly preparing to announce ‘robust’ new sanctions targeting Israeli settlements in the West Bank. <\/p>\n
A UK government source told The Times that it will be a major shift in Britain’s diplomatic strategy despite concerns the measures could escalate into a broader ‘de facto boycott’ of Israel.<\/p>\n
This stark shift in policy comes in direct response to Israeli plans to open tenders for the construction of 1,200 new housing units in occupied West Bank settlements. <\/p>\n
Senior Downing Street sources indicate that with these new sanctions, Burnham intends to adopt a far firmer stance on the issue than his predecessor, Sir Keir Starmer. <\/p>\n
Under the plans under review, the UK government is expected to approve a total ban on trade linked to Israeli settlements and introduce targeted individual sanctions against key figures involved in settlement expansion.<\/p>\n
West Bank violence: Clashes break out in Hebron as tensions spiral<\/p>\n
British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband recently condemned Israel\u2019s settlement expansion, describing the opening of new construction tenders as “an unacceptable and destructive act” that directly threatens the viability of a future two-state solution. <\/p>\n
The Foreign Office also summoned Israel\u2019s charg\u00e9 d’affaires in London to formally protest the development. Israeli officials have pushed back aggressively against the UK’s demands. <\/p>\n
Israeli Foreign Minister Sa’ar rejected the UK statement, criticizing what he called a “patronizing tone” and reiterating that Israel will defend its rights and security interests. <\/p>\n
While diplomatic quarters express concern that target-specific trade bans could inadvertently morph into a wider trade disruption with Israel, government insiders maintain that Burnham remains committed to penalizing unlawful settlement expansion under international law. A comprehensive package detailing the specific sanctions and economic restrictions is expected to be formally presented by the UK government in the coming weeks. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Prime Minister Andy Burnham is reportedly preparing to announce ‘robust’ new sanctions targeting Israeli settlements in the West…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":596490,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[85,46,43],"class_list":["post-596489","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-israel","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/596489","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=596489"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/596489\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/596490"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=596489"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=596489"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=596489"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}