British citizens could be banned from buying homes in illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, a former UK diplomat has said.
Tenders opened this week for private companies to build 3,400 settlements homes in the West Bank. The move would be an illegal annexation that could split the West Bank in half and sever its connections to East Jerusalem.
The UK government warned companies not to become involved in Israel’s E1 project in the West Bank in a statement last month. But many say more effective measures are needed.
Sir Vincent Fean, former consul general, said another important deterrent would be to ban British citizens from buying homes and land in illegal settlements. “It would be possible for our government to criminalise the purchase by British citizens of settlement houses [and] land,” he said at a conference organised by the British Palestine Project.
Mr Fean added that there would be political will in the UK to do so. “To make it criminal offence to buy land in stolen land, would be physically and politically possible. I put that on the table as something that we should advocate,” he said.
“It is doable and we do need to tackle not just the buildings of settlements but the illegality of the settler enterprise as a whole.”
The Proceeds of Crime Act 2002, which allows the government to confiscated assets obtained through crime is one of the laws that could be amended to incorporate provisions on the purchase on settlement properties, Mr Fean suggested.
Veteran Labour MP Emily Thornberry, chairwoman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, which scrutinises government foreign policy, told The National she would be looking into the proposal. “I think it’s really interesting I hadn’t heard of it before. I’m going to have a look at it and see,” she said, adding that she did not yet know which laws or mechanisms could be applied to bring such a ban into force.
Mr Fean described June as a “serious month for action” to prevent annexation. “We have to try to stop that. The only way to stop it now, is to warn that any Israeli entity that bids for those tenders will face economic consequences here, and with our partners,” he said.
Growing political pressure
The suggestion that such a ban would enjoy political backing from the public is supported by recent polling of Labour party members by Survation, which suggests about two thirds (62 per cent) are unhappy with the UK government’s approach to the Palestinian issue.
Meanwhile, 87 per cent of Labour party members support banning trade with illegal Israeli settlements, compared to 6 per cent who disapprove of the measure, the poll commissioned by Save the Children, Christian Aid and Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) found.
Two thirds support suspending the UK-Israel Trade and Partnership agreement, while 16 per cent oppose doing so. Negotiations for a new trade agreement were suspended last year but the existing deal remains in place.
A majority of 78 per cent also backed the suspension of all arms exports to Israel. Almost two thirds (58 per cent) said foreign policy on the Israel-Palestine conflict was important in their decision about who should lead the Labour party.
Alison Griffin, head of conflict and humanitarian campaigns at Save the Children, called on the government to suspend its trade agreement, and ban all arms exports and trade with illegal settlements.
“The UK cannot claim to support international law while continuing policies that risk enabling violations of it,” she said. “Nor can it continue to treat the unlawful occupation and illegal settlements as a diplomatic concern rather than a breach of international law requiring consequences.
“Children and families cannot afford further delay. We are beyond statements of concern and weak, inadequate action – this moment demands an end to complicity and urgent, concrete steps.”
MAP director Rohan Talbot said the poll’s findings expose “a widening gulf between the reality on the ground and the UK government’s response”.
Concrete steps
Forty-three British businesses that have been involved in the building of settlements in the West Bank have been contacted by the British-Palestine parliamentary group. “They have now been notified that it will be unlawful for them to engage in any activity, funding, providing materials, and so forth,” Labour MP Deborah Abrahams said.
MPs in Europe, Ireland and Australia would also do the same thing in co-ordination with the APPG, Ms Abrahams said. “So, while the government decides what they’re going to do, apart from just the statements, we’re taking action.”
The UK government has not banned British businesses from trade or development in Israeli settlements, but it said it would “not encourage or offer support” due to their illegality “under international law”.
“There are, therefore, clear risks related to economic and financial activities in the settlements, and we do not encourage or offer support to such activity,” its official guidance for businesses trading in Israel says.
The UK, in a joint statement with EU countries, called on companies not to take part in the so-called E1 project. “Businesses should not bid for construction tenders for E1 or other settlement developments. They should be aware of legal and reputational consequences of participating in settlement construction, including the risk of involving themselves in serious breaches of international law,” the statement said.
An FCDO representative said it had repeatedly condemned the expansion of illegal settlements and sanctioned settler violence. “We have imposed sanctions both on those responsible for that violence and on individual members of the Israeli cabinet for inciting it,” they said.
“We continue to call on the Israeli authorities to clamp down on all those who are seeking to inflame tensions, and to tackle the unacceptable violence and destruction of property that is being committed by settler groups against Palestinian communities.”