LONDON — The United Kingdom announced a ban on all goods produced in Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband delivered the decision in Parliament on Tuesday.
The ban targets settlement exports such as dates, olive oil and agricultural products, with implementation scheduled within six to nine months. "I do not believe the British people want us supporting the occupation by accepting products from settlements in our shops," Miliband said.
The move responds to escalating Israeli settler violence and settlement expansion across the West Bank and East Jerusalem. The International Court of Justice ruled in July 2024 that Israel's occupation of Palestinian territory is unlawful. In December 2024, the United Nations passed a resolution calling for the Israeli occupation to end within one year.
Israel announced four counter-measures, including banning 12 British Members of Parliament from entry and closing the British consulate in Jerusalem.
Following Miliband's speech, 11 countries issued a joint statement supporting a two-state solution and declaring intentions to restrict trade with settlement goods. The signatories are Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Iceland, Ireland, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain and Sweden.
Spain and Ireland implemented national bans on settlement goods earlier this year. The Netherlands and Belgium announced their own bans before the UK's decision. Most countries considering or enforcing such bans, aside from Canada and the UK, are European Union members.
The EU is Israel's largest trading partner. In 2025, the bloc accounted for 31.7 percent of Israel's total goods trade, worth 43.3 billion euros, or $50.4 billion. The EU supplied 33.1 percent of Israeli imports (28 billion euros, or $32.6 billion) and received 29.4 percent of Israeli exports (15.3 billion euros, or $17.8 billion). Israel ranks as the EU's 27th largest trading partner, with Ireland, the Netherlands and Germany as its largest individual trading partners within the bloc.
A 2026 report by the Global Echo Litigation Center, a Palestinian rights legal advocacy group, found that approximately 5,900 shipments from Israel were destined for Europe, with more than 17 percent containing settlement-origin products. While precise figures for settlement-goods trade are unknown, this segment represents a small fraction of overall EU-Israel trade, making the ban largely symbolic.
