LONDON — Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has backed Britain’s decision to ban trade with illegal Israeli settlements, saying escalating violence against Palestinians has made such measures unavoidable.
His response comes as Britain moves to restrict imports from Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, where settlement construction and settler violence have intensified despite widespread international opposition.
Announcing the sanctions on Tuesday, British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband told Parliament that settler terrorists supported by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government are committing ethnic cleansing in the West Bank, in the UK’s starkest condemnation since the foundation of the Israeli state.
Olmert welcomed the British policy, saying the decision followed a sustained war of what he described as ethnic cleansing carried out by extremist Israeli settlers in the West Bank.
Reacting to Miliband’s statement on UK-Israel relations on an LBC talk show, Olmert said Israel needs to recognize the gravity of the situation.
Miliband cited Olmert when announcing the new policy, referring to his earlier description of developments in the West Bank as a violent and criminal campaign aimed at ethnically cleansing Palestinian communities.
Prime Minister Andy Burnham said he would “not stand by” as horrific suffering continued, writing in The Guardian that for too long the UK had been hesitant to act, “fearful of being accused of being anti-Israel”.
The dramatic shift in the UK’s position comes after a summer of intense diplomacy against a backdrop of increasing settler violence in the West Bank, which has resulted in 12 nations – including France and Canada – announcing they would impose sanctions.
In a joint statement, Burnham, Emmanuel Macron and Mark Carney said: “The time has come to take further action to uphold our commitment to protect the two-state solution, our interests and to stand up for our values, before it is too late.”
In response, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar announced the closure of the UK consulate in Jerusalem and that 12 British MPs and activists, including Jeremy Corbyn and Labour MP Diane Abbott, would be banned from entering Israel.
Saar accused Miliband of “outrageous lies” and said the UK government was “systematically working against the state of Israel”. Washington’s ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, warned that the US could take retaliatory action over trade.
However, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Washington would “obviously” not follow the UK’s course of action, and did not want to see the West Bank destabilised, but declined to comment further. Burnham had briefed Donald Trump on the plan in advance.
Olmert accused Israeli authorities of allowing the violence to continue, saying settler attacks against Palestinians have been supported by elements of Israel’s police and military over an extended period.
He also directly criticized the country’s political leadership, accusing Defense Minister Israel Katz and Prime Minister Netanyahu of supporting the settlers and failing to take measures necessary to stop their actions.
Olmert said the British sanctions should be understood as measures directed at those involved in settler violence rather than punishment of Israel as a whole.
The former Israeli premier said many Israelis were themselves appalled by the violence and were resisting the actions of extremist settlers, drawing a distinction between the Israeli public and those responsible for attacks against Palestinians.
The British decision represents a significant shift from simply criticizing settlement activity to imposing a direct economic measure against goods produced in settlements built on occupied Palestinian land.
Israel has faced mounting international criticism over its settlement policies and the treatment of Palestinians in the West Bank. The measures come as several Western governments increasingly consider economic and diplomatic pressure in response to settlement expansion and violence.
Olmert’s endorsement is particularly significant because he served as Israel’s prime minister and remains a prominent critic of Netanyahu’s government.
His comments suggest that opposition to the settlement project is not confined to Israel’s foreign critics but also exists among senior figures within the country’s political establishment.
The former prime minister argued that sanctions had become necessary because Israeli authorities had failed to halt what he described as systematic abuses by settlers.
Britain’s decision comes ahead of Israeli elections scheduled for Oct. 27, with Netanyahu campaigning on a platform that includes continued support for settlement development in the occupied West Bank.
Source: Saudi Gazette