UK bans trade with West Bank settlements

0:00But one of the big stories we'll be following for you this morning in developing news overnight, the UK, France and Canada have announced a ban on goods produced in Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. The British Foreign Secretary Ed Miller-Ban has announced the sanctions overnight, saying quote, settler terrorists are carrying out quote, the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians. We call out what is unlawful. We act on the import of goods from illegal settlements. We ban advertising of illegal settlements. We act on services to prevent new settlement expansion. We act on settler violence. We support accountability for what has happened in Gaza. And we pledge to galvanize the international community to confront the ongoing and urgent humanitarian crisis. Above all we say, Britain is not silent in the face of deep injustice and nor is it powerless. And today we act in concert with others in a broad international coalition. I can tell the House that today France and Canada are announcing alongside Britain,

1:02but they will also ban the import of goods for illegal settlements. That's Ed Miller-Ban there. Well, Israeli settlements in the West Bank are deemed illegal under international law. Meanwhile, Israel's foreign minister Gideon Saar says, the Israeli government will force the closure of the British consulate in occupied East Jerusalem in protest over the UK sanctions. Dr. Julie Norman is an associate fellow with the Middle Eastern North Africa program at Chatham House, as well as the director of University College London's Israel-Palestine Initiative. And joins me now, a Julie Norman welcome to breakfast. Thank you, good morning. How significant is this announcement from the British government? This is a pretty significant announcement. It's really a reset of trying to shift, would have often rhetorical words of condemnation from the UK into something more action based. And I would point out this is still in some ways symbolic there is not a large of a financial

2:02amount of trade currently from settlements coming to the UK, but it is still extremely politically significant. And as we can see, it is having a very quick ripple effect with France, Canada, and other European countries acting in concert to really push back at the settlement enterprise that all of these states see as a real obstacle to a two-state solution. So what are these restrictions and actions exactly? What's the data as far as we know? Sure, so I would say there's three main areas. The first and foremost is a ban on any goods that are produced in settlements coming to the UK. And those have already not fallen within the trade preferences of the UK, but they will actually be banned now. So these are often fruits, cosmetics, things like this. The second area, which is a bit more substantial potentially, is the banning of services to expanding settlements. So this sounds a bit wonky, but it's pretty much the idea that any companies that are involved

3:04in building settlements, real estate, construction, et cetera, could be implicated with sanctions as well. So that's a bit more far-reaching. And the third area is a further suspension of arms exports to any arms that would not only be used, potentially, in Gaza, but now, potentially, in the West Bank as well. What's the reaction that we've seen so far from Israel and also from the United States, really? Yeah, I mean, Israel has responded very quickly. And I would say, forcibly to this announcement, they have said they will be closing the British consulate in East Jerusalem, which is the consulate that also serves the West Bank and Gaza. They are removing British officials from a Gaza coordination center and also from the Security Training Center, a program that's Britain runs in the West Bank, and then further sanctioning some British ministers who they see as too far left on this issue. But I would say the closing of the consulate in particular is a pretty major move. And the US were not sure.

4:05The US has said they do not agree with this move, but we haven't heard any specific repercussions yet. Though I wouldn't be surprised if there may be some coming. There are the actions here, and then there is the language. Describing what's happening in these areas as ethnic cleansing, what do you make of that language from Ed Miliband? Yeah, so I would point out that Miliband was, in fact, quoting you, some Israeli officials and former Israeli officials, then so as to have used that term. And I would say it's still notable that he adopted it and said, this is how the UK is seeing it. He also used the term subtler terrorism to describe the violent attacks that are taking place in the West Bank. I can say having just been in the West Bank this summer and observe some of these, you know, atrocities that have been taking place. It's hard not to define them that way. They're definitely having that effect of terrorizing populations, of forcing over 100 communities fully or partially off their land and into other places and other cities.

5:07So that's where that term comes from. And just briefly, Julie, this isn't bipartisan support in the UK. We've seen an opinion piece written by Kemi Biden, knock the opposition leader in the UK, which stands with Israel. That is true. And I would point out though, that there is, there is a cross party parliamentary committee that has been recommending this for over a year. Polling shows that a majority of Britain's support this, and that includes from all parties. So certainly there's some pushback from the opposition, as you would expect. But with that said, it's not completely a partisan decision on this vote. Julie Norman, thank you so much for joining me this morning. Thank you.