UK sharpens criticism of settlements ahead of Israeli polls

After the final approval was given for more than 3,400 housing units on the site in August 2025, the first call for construction tenders was issued last month to build 1,200 residential units in the southern part of E1. The bidding closes on 19 October, just before the Israeli elections on 27 October.

Global condemnation campaign

The Netanyahu government's determination to press ahead with the scheme has provoked a storm of global condemnation, with the new British government, led by Prime Minister Andy Burnham, playing a prominent role in criticising the project.

To this end, the UK announced a wide-ranging ban on trade with Israeli settlements. It aims to deter companies from taking part in building E1 and has already received backing from Canada, France, Ireland and Spain, which have announced similar measures.

In one of the most hard-hitting critiques of Israeli policy issued by a British foreign secretary, UK Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband accused the Israeli government of indulging in "ethnic cleansing", while describing Israeli settlers accused of carrying out acts of violence against Palestinian civilians as "terrorists". 

"The British government agrees that there is ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in areas of the West Bank, perpetrated by settler terrorists," Miliband said, adding that there had been "houses bulldozed, roads and public infrastructure destroyed, families displaced from their homes."

Miliband said the ban on trade with all Israeli settlements will be in place in six to nine months, and said other European countries, such as  Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Poland, Portugal and Sweden, had all pledged to "support further action." For their part, the Netherlands, Ireland, Belgium, Spain and Norway have either already banned goods from settlements or are in the process of doing so, he said. Miliband also tightened Britain's embargo on weapons sales to Israel for use in Gaza to include arms "that materially contribute to the occupation" of Palestinian territories. 

Illegal but growing

More than 700,000 Israeli settlers now live on land captured in the 1967 war, even though settlements on occupied land are illegal under international law. The Israeli campaign group, Peace Now, has reported that more than 102 new Israeli settlements have been approved since 2022, most of them located deep inside the West Bank. In addition, the UN has reported that more than 6,400 Palestinians have been displaced in the West Bank due to settler attacks and access restrictions since January 2023, of which at least 2,500 were displaced in 2026 alone.

In addition, more than 30,000 Palestinians have been displaced from refugee camps during Israeli military operations in the northern West Bank since late 2024.

There are concerns over how effective the measures will be in curbing Israel's settlement activity because of the difficulty in differentiating which goods are linked to Israeli settlements. Additionally, the seemingly coordinated international response to Israel's plans to expand its settlement construction activities has raised eyebrows as to why countries are drawing a line now, after years of silence during Israel's war on Gaza, which the UN has called a genocide. US President Donald Trump's response to the initiative will be telling.  So far, he has said he wants to discuss the issue with the Israelis first before issuing an official response. 

For its part, Israel has responded angrily to the measures, announcing the closure of the British Consulate in Jerusalem and publicly condemning Miliband's comments. Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar described the UK's measures as a "despicable" move, and said Israel would expel UK representatives from a joint military centre monitoring the Gaza ceasefire and end UK training of the Palestinian Authority's security forces in the West Bank. In addition, Israel barred entry to a dozen British lawmakers and other UK citizens whom Sa'ar said were "involved in antisemitic and anti-Israel activity."