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Miliband not ‘definite’ sanctions on Israeli settlements will work
Foreign Secretary said the Government was trying to “cut off the supply lines of British finance … (and) construction” to help stop illegal settlement expansion
Ed Miliband has said he is not “definite” sanctions on illegal Israeli West Bank settlements will work, a week after he announced measures to stop the occupation.
The Foreign Secretary said the British Government was trying to “cut off the supply lines of British finance … (and) construction” to help stop illegal settlement expansion.
Mr Miliband also said he felt “a sense of frustration” that Britain cannot do more on Gaza, as he said Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu is making Israel “less secure” with his policies on Palestine.
It came after Mr Miliband’s announcement last week, as he introduced a ban on imports from illegal settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories and sanctions on individuals and firms providing services to settlers.
Mr Miliband made the announcement in the Commons after a tender for the new E1 settlement area was published. He told MPs it would render the two-state solution “unviable” by “cutting through the heart of Palestine”.
However, speaking to former Labour spin doctor Alastair Campbell and former Conservative minister Rory Stewart on the Rest is Politics podcast, Mr Miliband said he was not certain the action – taken jointly with France and Canada – would work.
He said: “Can we have an impact on the settlement expansion? We believe we can with the sanctions regime, because what we’re trying to do is to cut off what you might call the supply lines of British finance, British construction, and so on to help settlement expansion.
“Will it definitely succeed? I can’t say it’ll definitely succeed. Does it have a chance of succeeding, particularly with other international partners acting? Maybe it does. That’s the whole intention behind it.”
He also acknowledged the impact of attacks by the Israeli armed forces on Palestinians since Hamas’ terror attack on Israel on October 7 2023. The attack by Hamas killed more than 1,200 Israelis.
Since then more than 70,000 Palestinians have been reportedly killed in attacks by the Israeli Defence Force, including by drones.
Mr Miliband said: “It’s so terrible what is happening. Obviously, I think it is important to say this. All of us condemn in the strongest terms the murder that Hamas did on October 7, but nothing can justify what has unfolded in Gaza since then.”
He added: “I feel a sense of frustration that we can’t do more on Gaza. We are taking humanitarian action. We want to do more.
“We are going to extend our sanctions regime to breaches of international humanitarian law, which could potentially help us to take action in Gaza.
“But really, while Israel is in control of so much of the territory, while the Trump 20-point peace plan is not being implemented, the situation on the ground is terrible.”
He denied Britain was trying to influence the Israeli elections which are due to take place on October 27. However he said: “We are trying to send a very clear message really to the Israeli people to say, look, the international community is not going to stand by as this occupation proceeds.
“With all the settler violence, settler terrorism, with essentially the elimination or the attempt to eliminate a two-state solution, we can’t give up. There is no alternative. By the way, security for Israel, I think, is reliant on a two-state solution.
“Netanyahu is not making Israel more secure. He’s making it less secure.”
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