Foreign Relations

Britain Summons Israeli Chargé d’Affaires Over E1 Tender, Pledges Sanctions

Published

Courtroom-sketch editorial illustration of two people seen from behind at a stone overlook parapet, a man in a black wide-brimmed hat and dark coat beside a woman in a white top and dark beret who points out across the arid hills toward a hillside town of pale housing blocks under a hazy sky, drawn in warm ochre and slate-blue chalk and pastel strokes with cross-hatching on sepia newsprint.

Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband said Britain summoned Israel’s Chargé d’Affaires to the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office after the Israeli government launched a tender for the E1 housing project, calling the step unacceptable and destructive and demanding an immediate reversal. Miliband said he told Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar that Israel must halt E1, retract the tender and stop all settlement expansion, and he asserted that settlements are a flagrant breach of international law. He said E1 would risk separating the West Bank from East Jerusalem. Miliband added that Britain will set out a comprehensive package of measures in the coming weeks, including sanctions targeting those who participate in settlement expansion.

Sources

Primary sources:1

People in this story

Related stories

  1. 102 Former Diplomats Urge UK and France to Impose Israel Trade and Arms Bans
  2. Britain Weighs Settlement-Trade Ban and Wider Sanctions Over E1
  3. Australia Summons Israel's Ambassador Over Closed World Central Kitchen Probe
  4. Leaders of Seven Countries Demand Israel Withdraw E1 Construction Tenders
  5. UN, Germany and France Condemn Ben Gvir Over Call for Nightly Gaza Killings

Something went wrong

We couldn't complete that action. Check your connection and try again.