ON September 8, the British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband announced sanctions on illegal Israeli settlements in the Palestinian West Bank.

He said it was the beginning of “a new approach which not only calls out injustice, but acts”.

Prime Minister Andy Burnham said it was part of a “reset” of Britain’s policy towards the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

He added the previous approach of Starmer was “wrong” and that Britain should have called for a ceasefire long ago.

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In many ways Miliband’s new policy was catching up with a number of countries, including Ireland, which had already targeted goods coming from settlements. Others are Spain, the Netherlands, Norway and Belgium.

However, in other ways Miliband has gone further. He intends to act against companies and individuals providing services for settlement expansion, something the Irish government has so far refused to do for fear of antagonising the US.

Senator Frances Black, who led the campaign for sanctions in her Occupied Territories Act since 2018 against repeated stalling and sleveenism by coalition ministers, has been arguing fruitlessly this year to add services to the act Micheál Martin finally, reluctantly passed.

Now........

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