UK, Allies Plan Bans on Settlement Imports

A U.S.-based nonprofit legal group, represented by Leigh Day, threatened to sue HM Revenue and Customs, alleging that agricultural goods from Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank entered the United Kingdom tariff-free after being wrongly labeled as originating in Israel; it said a four-year investigation identified five companies and hundreds of declarations allegedly concealing settlement origins. Separately, the United Kingdom, France and Canada announced plans to ban imports from Israeli settlements, with the measures expected to take effect within six to nine months, while Britain also plans sanctions targeting services and entities involved in settlement construction, infrastructure, financing, real estate and advertising. UK Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband said the measures respond to settlement expansion, settler violence and what he described as the ethnic cleansing and forced displacement of Palestinians, and aim to preserve the possibility of a two-state solution; several other European countries endorsed further action, and the Palestinian Authority welcomed the policy as consistent with international law and the 2024 International Court of Justice advisory opinion. Israel disputes the legal characterization of its presence in the West Bank, while Israel’s government, President Isaac Herzog, settlement leaders and U.S. Ambassador Mike Huckabee criticized the measures; the British Jewish Leadership Council warned they could harm Jewish communities and relations with Israel, while Israeli peace groups supported distinguishing sovereign Israel from settlements.