Israel also announced that it will expel British representatives from the center monitoring the implementation of the US-mediated ceasefire plan in the Gaza Strip, ban the British from conducting training for the Palestinian Authority (PA) forces, and prohibit 12 Britons, mostly members of parliament, from entering the country.
These measures were announced after twelve countries, including the UK, Canada, and France, declared they would impose sanctions on trade with Israeli settlements in the West Bank. The decision on sanctions was made following increased attacks by Israeli settlers on Palestinian villages in this occupied territory.
“The accusations made today in the British Parliament by the UK Foreign Secretary were brazen lies,” said Foreign Minister Gideon Saar after his British counterpart Ed Miliband accused Israeli settlers of “ethnic cleansing” in the West Bank.
“British actions are morally distorted and represent a clear interference in the affairs of a sovereign state and its electoral process,” he said ahead of the tense elections on October 27, in which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who actively supports settlement expansion in the West Bank, is participating.
Saar stated that Israel is closing the British consulate located in East Jerusalem – a historic Palestinian territory occupied by Israel during the 1967 Six-Day War. Later, Israel annexed East Jerusalem and considers this holy city its undivided capital.
“Unified Jerusalem is the capital of Israel and is entirely within its sovereignty,” Saar said.
“Any foreign activity in this territory must be conducted through recognized and agreed channels, without violating Israel’s sovereignty,” the minister added.
Although Israel controls East Jerusalem, most countries, including the United Kingdom, do not recognize its sovereignty over the entire city.
The exception is the United States, which, under President Donald Trump, moved its embassy to Jerusalem. The United Kingdom and the vast majority of countries recognizing Israel keep their embassies in Tel Aviv.
Meanwhile, the Israeli Foreign Ministry published a list of 12 UK citizens who will be denied entry if they attempt to visit the country.
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The list includes, among others, former Labour Party leader and outspoken Palestinian advocate Jeremy Corbyn, as well as Zarah Sultana, who split from the Labour Party with Corbyn to form the left-wing party “Your Party”.
The list also includes Diane Abbott, a Labour Party MP who faced criticism for remarks that downplayed the extent of antisemitism.
The US will not join the sanctions
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Tuesday that the United States will not join sanctions on trade with Israeli settlements and noted that Washington does not want anyone to destabilize the West Bank.
“Obviously, we will not act as the United Kingdom has,” Rubio told reporters before departing on a trip to Latin America.
“We do not want any destabilizing events currently happening in the West Bank, especially with so much going on in the region,” he added.
Foreign ministers of the twelve countries that announced plans to impose sanctions stated in a joint statement: “Today Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Iceland, Ireland, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, and the UK confirm that they intend to impose national restrictions and/or support European restrictions on trade (…) with settlements that are illegal under international law, or are actively considering these and other measures, in accordance with their national procedures.”
The twelve ministers said that the actions of the Israeli government in the West Bank “undermine the possibility of a two-state solution,” referring to the plan under which two states – Israel and a Palestinian state – would peacefully coexist side by side.
“The situation is rapidly deteriorating due to unprecedented settler violence and the scale of settlement expansion,” they warned.
According to calculations by the AFP news agency, based on data from the Palestinian Ministry of Health, since the start of the war in the Gaza Strip, Israeli forces or settlers in the West Bank have killed at least 1,105 Palestinians.
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