UK Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband has defended Britain’s decision to impose new measures against Israeli settlements in the West Bank, saying the government had to speak out before the possibility of a two-state solution was further undermined.
Miliband told Parliament on Tuesday that Israeli settlement expansion was contributing to conditions that could make the creation of a Palestinian state alongside Israel increasingly difficult.
The UK has announced plans to ban imports of goods produced in Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. Miliband also accused violent Israeli settlers of carrying out what he described as “ethnic cleansing” and said the Israeli government was turning a “blind eye” to such actions.
The measures have drawn criticism from Rabbi Leo Dee, a British-Israeli rabbi who lives in the West Bank settlement of Efrat.
Dee lost his wife, Lucy, and daughters Maia and Rina after they were shot by Palestinian militants while travelling through the Jordan Valley in 2023.
In an open letter to Prime Minister Andy Burnham, Dee accused the UK government of hypocrisy and argued that the sanctions unfairly target Jewish Israelis living and doing business in the settlements.
“You insist that you are not against Israelis. Yet you are prepared to single out Jewish Israelis like me for economic punishment,” Dee wrote.
He also criticised the Palestinian Authority over its former system of payments to Palestinian prisoners and the families of Palestinians killed while carrying out attacks.
The Palestinian Authority formally ended its prisoner and “martyrs” payment system in 2025 and replaced it with a needs-based welfare programme.
Israel and other critics have nevertheless alleged that similar payments continue through other mechanisms, a claim disputed by the Palestinian Authority.
Miliband, meanwhile, has urged the Palestinian Authority to accelerate political and institutional reforms, saying such changes are necessary to advance the two-state solution.
The foreign secretary also rejected suggestions that Britain’s sanctions could contribute to increased antisemitism in the UK.
Israel has responded strongly to the British measures, announcing four counter-measures. Among them is the planned closure of the UK consulate in Jerusalem, which is expected to take place within 30 days.
The diplomatic dispute adds to growing tensions between Britain and Israel over settlement activity, the future of the West Bank and the wider Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Miliband maintains that the UK needed to act because the prospect of establishing two states was being threatened by developments on the ground.
