Accusing Israel’s government of ignoring the “ethnic cleansing” of Palestinians by settlers, the UK has imposed penalties on illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.
According to Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband, the action “not only calls out injustice and suffering but acts” and signifies the “beginning of a new approach” to the Israeli-Palestinian problem.
In response, Gideon Saar, Israel’s foreign minister, accused him of disseminating an “outrageous lie” and vowed countermeasures, such as closing the British consulate in East Jerusalem. In addition to prohibiting settlement goods, the UK sanctions will target businesses and persons that offer services for settlement expansion. In a joint statement with the UK, France and Canada claimed that the penalties “mark a further turning point in our approach to protecting the two-state solution.
International law forbids settlements, and in recent months, Israelis in the West Bank have increased their aggression against Palestinians. The British government acknowledges that settler terrorists are ethnically cleansing Palestinians in parts of the West Bank, Miliband stated in a statement to MPs.
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