UK must reject attempts to derail settlement trade ban Submitted by Ben Jamal on Wed, 09/02/2026 - 16:17 If the Burnham government can resist pressure from pro-Israel groups, this could mark the first step in a broader boycott campaign - one long sought by Palestine advocates British Foreign Minister Ed Miliband is pictured in Wicklow, Ireland, on 2 September 2026 (Paul Faith/AFP) Off There are mounting rumours that the UK government is planning to introduce a ban on trade with illegal Israeli settlements. Such a ban has been a core demand of the Palestine solidarity movement for many years, as a key basic step towards ending UK complicity with Israel’s violations of international law . That it is now close to achievement is a product of two factors. The first is the increasing untenability of the position adopted by successive UK governments, which have treated Israel as a democratic ally to be shielded from accountability, while sustaining rhetorical support for Palestinian self-determination. The hypocrisy of this position, maintained even as Israel’s military occupation and apartheid descended into full-blown genocide , is collapsing under the weight of the increasingly brazen Netanyahu government, whose “ Greater Israel ” project aims to cement Jewish supremacy and remove any possibility of a Palestinian state. As it undertook the genocidal destruction of Gaza, Israel simultaneously accelerated settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank, while retroactively legalising settlement outposts , demolishing more Palestinian homes, and facilitating an epidemic of settler violence . The government’s plan to lift a two-decade freeze on the building of settlements in the E1 zone - which would effectively cut off the West Bank from East Jerusalem - finally triggered UK Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband to announce a series of “comprehensive” measures in response. The second factor is the recognition by incoming Prime Minister Andy Burnham that the sustained complicity of his predecessor, Keir Starmer, in Israeli violations of Palestinian rights - even amid a genocide - was a key reason for Labour’s declining public support . It is an acknowledgment that winning back voters requires going beyond Burnham’s weak apology for Starmer’s early endorsement of Israel’s genocidal assault on Gaza and failure to back a ceasefire.