The United Kingdom is preparing to roll out a new package of sanctions targeting Israel’s controversial E1 settlement project this week, joining a coalition of Western nations pushing back against a development plan that critics say will permanently fragment the occupied West Bank and eliminate any path to a contiguous, sovereign Palestinian state.
Multiple media and insider reports have laid out the expected scope of the upcoming measures. The Guardian cited diplomatic sources indicating the Foreign Office will formally penalize UK-based companies that enter into any commercial or construction involvement with the E1 project, alongside targeted sanctions against entities documented as supporting violent Israeli settler activity against Palestinian communities in the occupied territory.
Last week, Middle East Eye first reported that the UK government was actively considering a full import ban on all goods produced in illegal Israeli settlements across the West Bank, though it remains uncertain whether this week’s announcement will go as far as implementing that full ban.
First proposed in the 1990s, the E1 development zone plan has been delayed for decades by sustained international pushback. The project’s geographic location east of Jerusalem would cut off the northern and southern portions of the West Bank from one another, destroying any possibility of a geographically unified Palestinian state. Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who also supervises settlement expansion and civilian governance in the occupied West Bank, has openly acknowledged the project’s impact, stating publicly that it “effectively kills the Palestinian state.”
International pressure to block the project has mounted sharply in recent months. In late May, nine nations including the UK, France and Australia issued a joint formal warning that no businesses should participate in any E1-related activity. A growing number of European governments have already moved to restrict trade with illegal settlements: Spain has implemented a full import ban, while Ireland, the Netherlands and Belgium are currently advancing similar legislation through their domestic processes.
The push for action has also gained significant traction within UK domestic politics. Over the weekend, more than 140 members of parliament signed an open letter organized by Labour MP Melanie Ward, urging Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper to immediately end all trade with illegal Israeli settlements. The letter carries unusual political weight: it was signed by the Labour chair of every parliamentary select committee, including senior party figures like former Health Secretary Wes Streeting, a prominent potential candidate for future prime minister.
The letter directly criticizes the current government for what it calls an “unacceptable” failure to take sufficient action to curb settlement expansion, and explicitly calls for a formal import ban on settlement goods. Signatories point to a 2024 advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) that ruled Israel’s 58-year occupation of Palestinian territory is illegal under international law, and requires third-party states to avoid any trade dealings that would legitimize or support the occupation and settlement activity.
Insider accounts confirm that Middle East Minister Hamish Falconer privately told Labour MPs late last year that an import ban is a desirable policy step, but the final authority for any major policy shift rests with 10 Downing Street.
Emily Thornberry, senior Labour MP and chair of the parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committee, who was among the letter’s signatories, told Middle East Eye that “the situation in Palestine is intolerable, and yet we tolerate it.” She argued that the UK must use economic leverage to change Israeli policy, saying “we have to make it so economically painful for Israel that settlement expansion becomes untenable.”
Internal party polling released Wednesday underscores the depth of support for the policy among UK Labour’s base: a staggering 87 percent of Labour members back a ban on trade with Israeli settlements, with only 6 percent opposed.
Parliamentary pressure is set to intensify further in the coming weeks: Labour MP Abtisam Mohamed, a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, has secured a formal parliamentary debate on the proposed settlement goods ban. While a date for the debate has not yet been finalized, it will add additional public and political pressure on the government to adopt the full ban. Mohamed noted that the ICJ’s landmark ruling requiring states not to aid or assist in Israel’s illegal occupation is now two years old, and said the UK “is falling behind our allies” in meeting its international legal obligations.
On-the-ground data confirms a sharp rise in settler violence and displacement since the October 7 2023 Hamas attacks. Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem reports that Israel has forcibly displaced 59 Palestinian communities comprising more than 4,000 people from the West Bank since October 2023. United Nations data recorded nearly 2,000 separate settler attacks against Palestinian communities in 2025, averaging roughly five attacks per day.
The current Labour government has already taken incremental steps on the issue: in May 2024, it sanctioned several high-profile extremist Israeli settlers in the West Bank, including long-time settler activist Daniella Weiss, head of the hardline Nachala settlement movement. The following June, the UK joined a coalition of allied nations to sanction two far-right Israeli cabinet ministers, National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, over their repeated open incitement of violence against Palestinian communities in Gaza and the West Bank.
