In a significant clarification of its new Middle East policy, the British government has confirmed that its sweeping sanctions targeting illegal Israeli settlements will cover communities in the occupied Golan Heights and East Jerusalem, in addition to those in the occupied West Bank, multiple government sources confirmed to Middle East Eye Thursday evening.
The announcement comes two days after London formally declared Israel’s long-running occupation of Palestinian territory illegal and unveiled the landmark package of restrictions, but left open a key ambiguity: whether settlements in the Golan Heights, a strategic plateau seized by Israel from Syria in the 1967 Six-Day War, would be included in the measures. The lack of initial clarity prompted advocacy groups focused on international law to push for the UK to extend the ban to all illegally occupied territory.
Located at the intersection of Israel, Syria and southern Lebanon, the Golan Heights holds enormous strategic significance, with high elevation that allows forces stationed there to monitor activity across much of the northern Middle East. Israel captured the territory in 1967 and unilaterally annexed it just a few years later, a move that has never received formal recognition from the broader international community. United Nations Security Council Resolution 242, adopted in the wake of the 1967 war, explicitly calls on Israel to withdraw from the Golan Heights and all other occupied territories captured during the conflict, including the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Today, roughly 20,000 Israeli settlers reside in the Golan, alongside an estimated 26,000 native Syrian Druze inhabitants who retain their Syrian national identity.
UK Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband laid out the scope of the new policy when he announced it earlier this week, stating that the British public does not support enabling illegal occupation by allowing settlement-produced goods to be sold in UK retail spaces. “I do not believe the British people want us supporting the occupation by accepting products from settlements in our shops and supermarkets, so I can announce today that we will introduce an import ban on goods from illegal settlements in the occupied territories,” Miliband said Tuesday.
The new framework will operate as a comprehensive sanctions regime, with narrow carve-outs for religious activities that require cross-border access. Beyond the import ban on settlement goods, the UK will target specific companies and private individuals that provide key support for settlement expansion, including construction services, infrastructure financing, and real estate development for new settlement communities. “To those who finance or facilitate illegal settlements, let me say this: you will face the full force of UK sanctions,” Miliband added. “Settlements are illegal. They should not be promoted in our country.”
The UK’s policy shift is not an isolated action: 11 other nations, including Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Iceland, Ireland, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain and Sweden, joined London in a joint statement released Tuesday. The signatory countries confirmed they intend to implement their own national restrictions on trade with illegal settlements, support broader European Union-level trade restrictions, or are actively evaluating such measures in line with their own domestic legislative and regulatory processes.
Israel has already responded with punitive measures of its own. Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar announced that Israel would implement reciprocal sanctions, including closing the British consulate in East Jerusalem and banning entry to 11 sitting British members of parliament.