UK Announces Import Ban and Sanctions Regime Targeting Settlement Trade

UK Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband announced that Britain will ban imports of goods from Israeli settlements in territories London considers occupied. He said a new comprehensive sanctions regime, including religious exemptions, will implement the measure and target companies and individuals providing construction, infrastructure, financing or real-estate services for settlement expansion. Miliband also announced a ban on advertising settlement land in Britain. He said France and Canada were announcing parallel import bans, while stressing that the sanctions regime would target settlements rather than Israel and that Britain would continue valued trade with Israel inside the Green Line.