Burnham faces warnings over settlement trade sanctions amid fears of wider Israel boycott

Andy Burnham has reportedly been warned by officials that plans to announce “robust” sanctions on West Bank settlement trade could spiral into a wider “de facto boycott” of Israeli goods.

The Times reports that a senior government source has confirmed that the Prime Minister is expected to approve plans for a trade ban on Israeli settlements and the sanctioning of more individuals linked to businesses in the territory.

But the newspaper says officials have warned that a ban faces significant practical difficulties – including distinguishing between goods from the settlements and goods from Israel.

Officials also said there was a significant risk that the ban would also hit “legitimate” Israeli businesses and that it risked undermining trade more broadly.

Jewish News has previously revealed how Burnham has been persuaded to back a settlement trade ban, and has discussed announcing sanctions in the Commons as soon as next month.

Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband has now also confirmed that he will be outlining further measures against Israel in the coming weeks, following last week’s confirmation by Israel that it is opening tenders for the construction of 1,200 settler homes in the E1 corridor of the West Bank.

This development makes a two-state solution even harder to achieve.

“E1 would cut across the heart of Palestine and risks separating the West Bank from East Jerusalem, which would endanger the viability of a two-state solution,” Miliband said. “Britain will not stand back and accept the destruction of the two-state solution.”

He added: “In the coming weeks we will set out a comprehensive set of measures to respond to Israeli government policies, protect the viability of the Palestinian state, target sanctions at those who participate in illegal settlement expansion and support a just and lasting peace for Israelis and Palestinians.”

But the Labour Friends of Israel organisation which includes senior Labour MPs and peers, has issued a statement saying that while it “strongly opposes” the Israeli settlements and supports “calibrated steps against extremist settlers and extremist settler groups” it believes a boycott of trade with settlements is practically impossible and “will become a de facto boycott of all of Israel, which would be deeply damaging to the UK national interest, the British Jewish community and Palestinian workers.”

Any announcement of a trade ban by the government is also likely to face criticism from other mainstream communal groups, who are likely to back the claim that it risks becoming a wider boycott of Israeli trade, and that this impacts on communities in the diaspora at a time of rampant antisemitism.

But some communal organisations, including the advocacy group Yachad, have long called for the introduction of sanctions by the UK on trade with the illegal settlements.

Supporters of sanctions argue that the UK already has a workable system of postcode recognition that is used to track the origin of goods from Israel as part of the existing free trade agreement.

They will also claim that businesses hiding the fact that they use goods produced in West Bank settlements which are then sent to warehouses in Israel is reason to bring in sanctions, rather than continuing to take no action.

Burnham has repeatedly signalled that he wants to take a stronger approach on Israel.

Shortly before he became prime minister, he said: “I know that many people feel that at the start of Israel’s military action in Gaza, my party didn’t get it right, and I am sorry about that. He has promised to “do better”.