Two Israeli human rights groups welcomed the UK's decision Tuesday to ban imports of goods produced in Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, calling for broader international action to end Israel's crimes and prevent support for its "illegal settlement enterprise."
"The UK government's recognition that ethnic cleansing is taking place in the West Bank, alongside the growing move by governments from condemnation to concrete action, must mark the beginning of a broader shift in how the international community acts to stop Israel's crimes," B'Tselem said in a statement.
Yesh Din meanwhile said that 12 countries led by the UK had taken a significant step by recognizing that Israel's "illegal settlement enterprise" is violent and must not be supported.
The group said illegal settlements are not merely a source of violence but by their very existence constitute acts of dispossession, oppression and discrimination.
"For years, we have witnessed and documented the expansion of settlements, the takeover of land, restrictions on movement and access to land, settler violence and state violence," Yesh Din said.
It said these violations directly affect Palestinian individuals, families and communities and form part of a broader, systematic policy aimed at forcing Palestinians from their homes and land.
"Today, the UK called these actions by their name -- ethnic cleansing," the group said.
Yesh Din added that trade, business activity and imports of goods produced through the seizure of Palestinian resources enable illegal settlements to expand and sustain the human rights violations associated with them.
The group said countries "have a duty not to assist or finance an enterprise built on violence, ethnic cleansing, violations of international law and human rights abuses."
The statement by the 12 countries was issued by the foreign ministers of Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Iceland, Ireland, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and the UK.
It also came after British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband announced Tuesday that the UK will impose an import ban on goods from illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, citing "ethnic cleansing" of Palestinians.
In a statement to lawmakers in the House of Commons, Miliband said that today marks the "beginning of a new approach" on Israel.
"The legislation I have announced today will be in place within six to nine months, and we will also take more immediate steps," he noted.
Today's measures "represent a clear message" to the government of Israel, to the Palestinians in the Occupied Territories, and to the world that "we will not acquiesce in the destruction of the two-state solution," he said.
He noted, however, that the sanctions regime will target illegal settlements and settlement expansion, not Israel itself, adding that for this reason, he "wholeheartedly" opposes the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement.
On top of Israel's official state policy, "settler terrorism is rampant," he said, adding that the UK will sanction a further set of extremist settlers in the West Bank "who have supported or incited acts of violence" against Palestinians.
Miliband stressed that those who finance or facilitate illegal settlements in the West Bank "will face the full force of UK sanctions."
He went on to say that the UK will take action against "specific companies and individuals" who provide services and financing for the expansion of illegal Israeli settlements.
The measures come amid escalating attacks by the Israeli army and Israeli occupiers in the occupied West Bank since the start of the Gaza genocide in October 2023. Palestinian authorities have documented killings, arrests, home demolitions, attacks on mosques and vehicles, destruction of agricultural land, restrictions on farmers' access to their property and forced displacement.
According to Palestinian figures, around 750,000 Israeli occupiers live in 156 illegal settlements and 360 outposts across the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem.
Palestinians warn that Israeli military operations and occupier violence are paving the way for the formal annexation of the West Bank, which would undermine the establishment of a Palestinian state under relevant UN resolutions.
