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U.K. Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband told Parliament Tuesday that the British government agrees Israeli settlers are committing "ethnic cleansing" of Palestinians in parts of the West Bank.
He added that London now considers Israel's occupation of the territory unlawful and unveiled a sweeping package of sanctions and trade restrictions targeting settlements.
"Our argument is not with the people of Israel, with whom the UK has unshakeable bonds," Miliband told MPs, adding, "Our argument is with the conduct of its government."
Miliband said more settlements had been approved under the current Israeli government's four years in office than in the previous 20 years combined, calling the issuing of tenders for new homes in the proposed E1 settlement "the crossing of a long-established red line."
"Let's be absolutely clear what this means: the creation of a set of facts on the ground to make the two-state solution unviable. And on top of official state policy, settler terrorism is rampant," Miliband said.
He cited the U.N.'s definition of ethnic cleansing as "a purposeful policy designed by one ethnic or religious group to remove by violent and terror-inspiring means the civilian population of another ethnic or religious group from certain geographic areas."
"The British government agrees that there is ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in areas of the West Bank, perpetrated by settler terrorists," Miliband said.
"And all too often, the Israeli government has turned a blind eye to this and worse, members of it have made statements and taken actions to support the forced displacement of Palestinians," he added.
Miliband announced that Britain now considers the occupation itself unlawful, "because of Israel's control, its intention to extend permanent sovereignty, and its expansionist agenda via illegal settlements."
"The government believes the unlawfulness of the occupation should be reflected in the economic relationships we choose to have with the occupied territories. I do not believe the British people want us supporting the occupation by accepting products from settlements in our shops and supermarkets," Miliband said, adding, "So I can announce today that we will introduce an import ban on goods from illegal settlements in the occupied territories."
The ban will involve drafting a new sanctions regime with "appropriate religious exemptions," according to Miliband, and will take six to nine months to be finalized and implemented.
Miliband said the U.K. would "take action against specific companies and individuals who provide services such as construction, infrastructure, financing, or real estate for settlement expansion," warning that those involved "will face the full force of UK sanctions."
He also announced a ban on companies advertising properties for sale in illegal West Bank settlements.
Miliband said the measures target settlements rather than Israel itself.
"We will continue to support important and valued trade with green line Israel precisely because we support the two-state solution, including security and prosperity for Israel," he said, adding that he "wholeheartedly" opposed the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement.
The U.K. will also impose new sanctions on "extremist settlers" and expand its global human rights sanctions regime to allow "swifter action to deter settlement expansion."
Miliband said the U.K. has already suspended more than 30 arms export licenses used by the Israel Defense Forces in Gaza, a suspension that remains in place, and that Britain will now refuse all license applications for arms and other exports that "materially contribute to the occupation," what he called a "double lock" against arms sales, for as long as the occupation persists.
Turning to Gaza, Miliband said international reports "represent increasing evidence that war crimes appear to have been committed," and that the U.K. "supports legal processes to determine this," including the International Court of Justice process.
The government will not make a formal determination on whether Israel has committed genocide before the courts do, he said, but pledged to do "everything we can to provide all the humanitarian support possible to help the people of Gaza."
"Our extension of the global human rights sanctions regime will enable us to target those responsible for violations of international humanitarian law, whether in Gaza or anywhere else in the world," Miliband said.
Miliband opened his statement by describing himself as "a proud Jew, someone with the deepest gratitude to the State of Israel for giving a home to my grandmother" after she lost her husband and 60 other family members in the Holocaust.
"My personal story and that of thousands of British Jews is one of the many reasons why I say to anyone here or around the world who questions Israel's right to exist as a homeland for the Jewish people: you are wrong and we will call you out whenever you engage in this attempt at the erasure of Israel," he said.
On the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel, Miliband called it "a murderous act by a murderous terrorist organization" and said Israel "has every right to defend itself."
He said holding British Jews responsible for the actions of the Israeli government "is anti-Semitism, plain and simple."
Miliband said he felt "a deep sense of shame" over events in Gaza.
"In Gaza, the most unimaginable trauma and suffering in the last three years, death, destruction and dehumanisation on an appalling scale. A stain on the conscience of the world and of this country too," he said, describing the two-state solution as the "north star" of Prime Minister Andy Burnham's government.
Miliband praised Prime Minister Keir Starmer's government for recognizing the State of Palestine, calling it a "historic step," but said "the Labour Government has not done enough in the face of what is happening."
"Today marks the beginning of a new approach, an approach that not only calls out injustice and suffering" but "acts," Miliband said, describing "a deeply painful contrast between our professed commitment to a two-state solution and the reality on the ground in Gaza and the West Bank."
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