Pakistan and seven other Arab and Muslim countries have welcomed the United Kingdom’s (UK) decision to ban imports from Israeli settlements in the illegally occupied West Bank, calling for further international action against settlement violence.
The UK announced the trade measures on Tuesday alongside Canada and France. British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband accused the Israeli government of turning a “blind eye” to what he described as “ethnic cleansing” by settlers in the West Bank.
A joint statement issued by the foreign ministers of Pakistan, Turkiye, Egypt, Indonesia, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) welcomed the UK-led decision and expressed hope that other countries would take similar steps in line with international law.
The foreign ministers called on the international community to “hold accountable settlement organisations and individuals engaged in illegal settlement activities” and adopt measures against activities that support or sustain Israeli settlements in the illegally occupied Palestinian territory.
Islamabad’s Foreign Office (FO) said that the eight Muslim countries considered the UK’s decision consistent with international law and relevant United Nations (UN) resolutions, including UN Security Council Resolution 2334 adopted in 2016.
The ministers also linked the decision to the International Court of Justice’s July 19, 2024 advisory opinion, which said that states must not recognise as legal the situation created by Israel’s unlawful occupation or provide aid or assistance to maintain it.
The statement called on Israel to rescind measures connected to settlement occupation and other actions aimed at changing the geographic and demographic character of the illegally occupied Palestinian territory.
The eight countries also welcomed an earlier joint statement by the foreign ministers of 12 countries, including Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Ireland, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Canada, France and the UK. The countries expressed an intention to consider similar measures and said that Israeli actions in the West Bank undermined the possibility of a two-state solution.
The joint statement said that Gaza is an integral part of Palestine and called for the “full and immediate” implementation of President of the United States (US) Donald Trump’s ‘Comprehensive Plan to End the Gaza Conflict’.
The ministers said the implementation of a two-state solution remains the only viable path to lasting and comprehensive peace, with an independent, sovereign, contiguous and viable Palestinian state based on the June 4, 1967 borders and Jerusalem as its capital.
Earlier on Wednesday, Pakistan’s Foreign Office separately welcomed the UK-led trade measures, saying the continued expansion of Israeli settlements violated international law and relevant UN Security Council resolutions.
“Pakistan hopes that these measures will send a clear and unequivocal message of rejection of illegal actions in the occupied Palestinian territory,” the FO said, reiterating Islamabad’s support for Palestine and its people’s “just struggle for self-determination”.
Israel responded to the UK’s measures by ordering the closure of the UK consulate in Jerusalem. It also said it would expel British representatives at a centre monitoring the US-brokered Gaza ceasefire plan, stop British training for Palestinian Authority forces.
Miliband called Israel’s response “regrettable and damaging” and rejected suggestions that the sanctions would affect intelligence cooperation between the two countries.
“We have important intelligence and security relationships with Israel, and I’m confident they will continue,” he told BBC Radio, adding that Britain would continue working with Israel on threats it faces from Iran.
