UK and EU Threaten Sanctions Over Israel E1 Settlement

The Government of the United Kingdom and a coalition of allies, including Canada, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, and Norway, issued a joint statement condemning Israel's decision to open construction tenders for 1,234 housing units in the E1 area of the occupied West Bank. The nations labeled the plan unacceptable, arguing it violates international law and threatens the two-state solution by severing territorial contiguity between the northern and southern West Bank.

In response to the move, the UK is drafting a new sanctions regime to ban trade in goods and services with West Bank settlements and is preparing targeted sanctions against individuals involved in illegal expansion. The European Union is also preparing an initial package of measures, which may include labeling Israeli products and suspending certain security and diplomatic partnerships. The United States is reportedly not opposed to these steps.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar rejected the criticism as patronizing and absurd, asserting the Jewish people's right to live throughout the land. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich stated that the Palestinian state is being erased through these actions. The tenders were released shortly before Israel's October 27 general election, a move the monitor Peace Now characterized as a scorched-earth policy designed to make the project harder for a future government to cancel.