Israel has been building settlements in the occupied West Bank for decades. But Britain’s new ban on the import of settlement goods comes in a response to a major escalation in construction over the past four years, which an International Court of Justice advisory opinion in 2024 concluded is illegal and must stop.

Most striking are recent steps to build a new settlement bloc known as E1 on the outskirts of Jerusalem. First planned as long ago as 1999, but progressing significantly over the past year or so, the E1 bloc would mark a major change to the geography of the West Bank.

Current plans allow for thousands of housing units in the settlement, as well as commercial properties and regional services. The project would establish a new urban area that would connect the large settlement of Maale Adumim with East Jerusalem.

The international community has long seen the construction of E1 as a red line for three main reasons. First, it would isolate East Jerusalem from the rest of the West Bank, including major Palestinian cities like Ramallah and Bethlehem. This matters because East Jerusalem is the proposed capital of a Palestinian state in any future two-state agreement to end the conflict.

Second, because E1 reaches across........

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