IN a coordinated move that has visibly rattled Tel Aviv, the United Kingdom, France and Canada announced on 8 September that they would ban imports of goods produced in Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, alongside sanctions on the companies and individuals financing and building them. British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband told the House of Commons that the measures amounted to a “comprehensive reset” of relations with Israel, accusing settler groups of carrying out what he termed “ethnic cleansing” against Palestinian communities. Prime Minister Andy Burnham, French President Emmanuel Macron and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney issued a joint statement declaring that the time had come to take further action to protect the two-state solution. Several other European states, including Denmark, Finland, Norway, Iceland, Ireland, Poland, Portugal, Spain and Sweden, are considering similar steps, suggesting the announcement is the leading edge of a broader European recalibration rather than an isolated gesture.

The substance of the measure is narrower than headlines suggest and its precision is itself significant. London has been careful to distinguish between trade with Israel proper and trade with the settlements built beyond the Green Line, stating explicitly that the ban targets settlement-origin goods, not Israeli goods generally. It covers dates, wine, produce and other exports grown or manufactured on occupied land and extends to services connected with settlement........

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