LONDON -- The United Kingdom unveiled sanctions on illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank and said France and Canada would announce similar penalties later on Tuesday, in a coordinated move that underlined Israel’s growing isolation on the international stage.

Announcing the sanctions in UK Parliament, British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband issued a strong condemnation of Israel’s actions in the West Bank, saying “settler terrorists” had committed “ethnic cleansing” against Palestinians there and describing the measures as reset in relations between the two countries.

The UK’s announcement was accompanied by a joint letter from 11 Western nations who said they would also introduce similar restrictions on trade with settlements illegal under international law – or would work to support European restrictions. Israel and the Unites States – its most important ally – had threatened to retaliate against Britain for the move.

Miliband, who said he was setting out the measures “as a proud Jew,” said that Britain could no longer simply “call out” injustice and suffering.

“The British government agrees that there is ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in areas of the west Bank, perpetrated by settlers terrorists, and all too often the Israeli government turns a blind eye to this. And worse, members of it have made statements and taking actions to support the forced displacement of Palestinians,” he said.

He added that the UK must now “act” to oppose the expansion of settlements.

The UK sanctions will ban the import of goods from Israeli settlements in West Bank, will sanction a further set of Israeli settlers and will take action against specific companies and individuals involved in settlement expansion across the construction, infrastructure, finance and real estate sectors, he said.

“Britain should now lead in Europe, across the Commonwealth, and internationally, to ensure that no state, company, bank, or institution contributes to, facilitates, or profits from this illegal occupation,” he said.

Israel captured East Jerusalem and the West Bank in the 1967 war. Both are considered occupied territories under international law, and Israeli settlements there are widely regarded as illegal.

Miliband said the sanctions were an effort to prevent the destruction of the two-state solution, referring to a peace plan that calls for an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel and what he called a “North star” of British policy.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar called the move an “absurd political decision” and “a morally corrupt move” and accused the British government of interfering with Israel’s upcoming elections.

Settlements have been accelerated under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s hardline government, which has made settlement expansion a priority.

Sa’ar said that Israel would retaliate by closing the UK consulate in Jerusalem, expel British representatives from the CMCC – the coordination center in southern Israel to manage the next phases of the Gaza ceasefire plan, terminate the activities of the British Support Team (BST), a small, Ramallah-based unit of British military personnel that provides support to the Palestinian Authority Security Forces (PASF) and deny entry to 11 British lawmakers and a solicitor.

The issue was raised in a call between UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham and US President Donald Trump on Monday, according to a source familiar with the call. The joint announcement could also trigger a response from the Trump administration.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio declined to comment on the UK’s new sanctions on Tuesday, but said, “we share the goal of stability.”

“Obviously, we’re not going to do what the UK did. We saw their announcement today, but I don’t have any comment on it right now,” he told reporters in Miami.

Rubio added that the US does not “want to see anything destabilizing going on right now in the West Bank with so much going on in the region.”

A significant “reset”

The decision marks a significant clash between Israel and some of its top Western allies and comes amid mounting international criticism over Israel’s policies in the West Bank, where settler violence against Palestinians has surged in areas the international community views as part of a future Palestinian state.

It comes amid Israel’s push to advance the internationally-condemned E1 settlement project, which divides the West Bank into north and south, making a contiguous Palestinian state virtually impossible.

The E1 project also splits East Jerusalem – the envisioned capital of a Palestinian state – from the rest of the territory. In late-August, Israel’s Housing Ministry invited bids for the construction of more than 1,200 housing units in E1. The plan aims to create a continuous bloc of Jewish settlements from East Jerusalem to the West Bank.

Israel’s far-right Finance Minister, Bezalel Smotrich, has explicitly championed the expansion of settlement as a way to “bury” the idea of a Palestinian state. “The Palestinian state is being erased from the table not with slogans but with actions,” Smotrich said when E1 received its final approval.

Last year, the UK and others sanctioned Smotrich and far-right Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir for “repeatedly inciting violence against Palestinians.”

Israel gave final approval?for the E1 plan last year, greenlighting more than 3,400 housing units.

“Every settlement, every neighborhood, every housing unit is another nail in the coffin of this dangerous idea,” he added.

While most Israeli settlements are state-run projects, many settler groups have also established dozens of unauthorized outposts in recent years – often through violence and physical force – that eventual secure Israeli government approvals.

Human rights and monitoring groups, including Amnesty International, have said that Netanyahu’s government turns a blind eye to violence, calling it part of a broader ecosystem of “state-supported settler violence.”

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