Illegal settlements, settler violence and the West Bank
We remain deeply concerned by the increase in violence by illegal settlers, ongoing settlement expansion and trade, and by the Israeli Defence Force in the West Bank. The International Court of Justice has advised that Israel’s continued occupation is illegal as well as the seizing of Palestinian land and homes. Indeed, settlement expansion in the Occupied Palestinian Territories is one of the biggest barriers to peace.
On Thursday 9th July 2026, a debate on banning trade with illegal Israeli settlements took place in Parliament. The transcript can be read here. My Liberal Democrat colleague, Charlie Maynard, made the following contribution:
"We need to introduce a legislative ban on all UK trade in goods and services with illegal Israeli settlements. That should include a package of sanctions including large fines for any UK firms that bid for tenders relating to illegal settlement construction in the E1 area or elsewhere in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. These sanctions should extend to include any financial institutions here in the UK that through the provision of finance directly facilitate UK companies’ involvement in construction or other service provision for illegal settlements —and yes, we are all thinking about you, JCB.
Various hon. Members talked about the contrast with the speed at which the Government introduced sanctions on Russian-occupied Crimea and other illegally occupied parts of Ukraine, so I will not rehash those arguments, but the Office of Trade Sanctions Implementation and His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs play key roles in those sanctions, which they are not being asked to play in relation to these sanctions. Members also talked about how other countries, including Spain, the Netherlands, Ireland and Belgium, are implementing bans or legislating to implement bans. If we do not know how to do it, why do we not ask them how they did it? We might learn something.
I want to stress the important subject of services. Compared with the value of goods, the value of services is unknown, but it is almost certainly large, perhaps much larger than goods. Whatever that value is, we want services to be included in the sanctions. I am looking for a commitment from the Minister to a ban that includes services, and to the enforcement of that."
Last September, the Government took the historic decision to recognise the State of Palestine. This was the right thing to do - and a step which the Liberal Democrats had been advocating for for almost a decade. If, however, Ministers fail to protect the territorial integrity of that state, the act of recognition will be remembered only as a hollow gesture. It is time for the Government to put forward a clear plan for halting and reversing the expansion of Israeli settlements in East Jerusalem and the West Bank. Anything less will constitute an abject dereliction of duty to the people of Palestine.
This must include the Government moving to legislate to ban all UK trade in goods and services with the illegal Israeli settlements, ensuring that UK PLC cannot be complicit in their expansion of sustainability.
The Government's current framework remains ineffective. We have seen targeted sanctions against extremist settler groups, yet corporate entities, and even international real estate fairs operating in London, continue to market and trade in settlement goods and services. Recent research reveals that up to 17% of certain regional imports from the area originate from illegal settlements using “supply chains of obfuscation” to bypass tariffs.
It is time to transition from condemnation to active enforcement of a comprehensive suite of sanctions against illegal Israeli settlements. The Government must legislate a total trade ban so that the UK PLC cannot be complicit in their expansion or sustainability.
In addition, members of the Israeli Security Cabinet explicitly stated their goal is to make a sovereign Palestinian state completely unviable. Schemes like the E1 settlement expansion are explicitly designed to bisect the West Bank and render contiguity impossible.
If the Government truly believes in the two-state solution it reaffirmed last autumn when it formally recognised the state of Palestine, it must actively protect the provisional 1967 borders it recognised. Allowing trade with these territories directly finances the infrastructure destroying the very state the UK now formally recognises. Banning this trade is the only way to signal the British recognition comes with diplomatic and economic weight.