The government's expected announcement to restrict trade with illegal settlements in the Israeli-occupied West Bank has been described as "performative posturing" by the shadow home secretary.

Chris Philp tells Radio 4's Today programme the move will be "very difficult" to implement practically given the challenge of distinguishing goods coming from the West Bank and Israel.

• Earlier, Labour MP and Foreign Affairs Committee chair Emily Thornberry said "we can do it", citing sanctions imposed on Russia following the illegal annexation of Crimea as a precedent

However, Philp adds that the Conservatives believe in a two-state solution and that "building settlements on Palestinian land is obviously wrong".

Israel has built about 160 settlements housing 700,000 Jews since it occupied the West Bank and East Jerusalem during the 1967 war. An estimated 3.3 million Palestinians live alongside them.

Yolande Knell
Middle East correspondent, in Jerusalem

"If Britain acts against the state of Israel, the state of Israel will act against Britain," the Israeli Foreign Secretary, Gideon Saar, told an Israeli podcast last week when asked about a UK ban on settlement trade.

However, when I approached him at a diplomatic event on Monday to ask for more details about planned retaliation, he declined to answer my question.

Already, Israel’s far-right finance minister Bezalel Smotrich has called for the British ambassador to be expelled.

After the Netherlands recently banned trade from settlements, Israel expelled two Dutch diplomats from a US-led centre in the south of the country, which is in charge of coordinating the shaky Gaza ceasefire.

Asked how the UK would react to any similar reaction regarding its staff, a government spokesperson recently stated that the UK was committed to implementing the Gaza peace plan and "playing our part in improving the situation on the ground".

Emily Thornberry, a Labour MP who chairs the Foreign Affairs Committee, says the British government has to "challenge" Israeli plans to expand settlements in the occupied West Bank.

• As a reminder, the settlements are illegal under international law and form one of the most contentious issues between Israel and the Palestinians

Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme, she notes that the Israeli government has "expressly said" it wants to "snuff out any chance of a Palestinian state".

Pointing to the Starmer government's decision to formally recognise Palestine last year, she says the UK must "do everything [it] can to protect the possibility of a Palestinian state".

"That is the way you get a safe and secure Israel and justice for Palestinians," she adds.

Asked how the UK will distinguish between goods from Israel and goods from the West Bank when imposing any trade sanctions, she calls it an "established issue".

She cites the example of historic sanctions following Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014, saying: "We've been here before, we can do it."

Image source, Getty Images

US ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee has told the BBC’s Newsday programme that "I think without a doubt there will be" a US reaction if the UK goes ahead with expected trade sanctions on illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank.

Reaction could come at a state as well as a federal level, he suggests.

Doing "something like this with a partner, Israel" could have a "huge economic impact on British businesses", Huckabee says, adding that they could be "banned" from doing business "in a number of states" across the US.

Prime Minister Andy Burnham spoke to US President Donald Trump over the phone on Monday, during which the PM stressed the importance of a two-state solution in the Middle East.

An official account of the call released by No 10 did not specify that Burnham had briefed Trump on the sanctions.

Israel opened up tenders last month for the construction of some 1,200 settlement homes in a strategically important part of the occupied West Bank.

Plans to build on the so-called E1 area - east of Jerusalem - have long been internationally condemned, with settlements illegal under international law and Israel holding off on plans to build in the area for decades.

However, the current Israeli government gave the go-ahead for E1 construction a year ago, expressly to "erase" the idea of a Palestinian state.

The tender issued by the housing ministry last month covers about 12 sq km (4.6 sq miles) between East Jerusalem and the settlement of Maale Adumim.

The development would in effect divide the West Bank in two and isolate East Jerusalem, with many of Israel's allies and Palestinians arguing it would deal a major blow to hopes of a two-state solution.

Image source, Reuters

Last week, Ed Miliband said he would unveil a "comprehensive reset" of the British government's policy on Israel.

In his first speech to Parliament as foreign secretary, he said plans from Israel to build some 1,200 settlement homes in the so-called E1 area - east of Jerusalem - were "illegal under international law".

Miliband called the plans "the crossing of a red line, as it cuts through the heart of the West Bank and risks making a Palestinian state unviable".

The foreign secretary said last month the Israeli Chargé d'Affaires had been summoned to the Foreign Office, where he had "set out the UK's profound objection to this move by the Netanyahu government and demanded an immediate reversal".

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar responded by saying it was "absurd for Britain to lecture the Jewish people about where they may live in their historic tiny homeland".

He said: "The UK government's decision to damage the relationship between our countries is deeply unfortunate."

The West Bank is an area of land located, as the name would suggest, on the west bank of the River Jordan.

Israel has built about 160 settlements housing 700,000 people since it occupied the West Bank and East Jerusalem during the 1967 war.

An estimated 3.3 million Palestinians live alongside them.

Palestinians also want the land, along with Gaza, for a hoped-for future state.

Settlements are illegal under international law, and recent months have seen a rise in violence towards Palestinians in the West Bank by settlers.

Expansion has risen sharply since Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu’s return to power in 2022, as well as the start of the Gaza war, triggered by Hamas’s 7 October 2023 attack on Israel.

A symbolic gesture - but a significant momentpublished at 07:05 BST

07:05 BST

Paul Adams
Diplomatic correspondent

Ed Miliband is set to go further than any of his predecessors in targeting Jewish settlements in the West Bank – settlements successive British governments have described as illegal under international law and a barrier to peace.

It’s a significant moment, coming almost a year after Sir Keir Starmer’s government recognised the state of Palestine and said the UK had a moral responsibility to support a peaceful future for Israelis and Palestinians.

The government believes the prospects for a two-state solution are being jeopardised by the rapid expansion of settlements.

It recognises that banning a relatively small quantity of mostly agricultural products is a largely symbolic gesture.

But Miliband is describing this as a major reset in Britain’s wider policy on Israel, while Andy Burnham has said he believes more pressure needs to be put on the government of Benjamin Netanyahu.

He’s already briefed President Trump on his plans. It’s not yet known what the president thinks.

Image source, Reuters

The UK government is expected to set out new restrictions on buying goods made in Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, the BBC understands.

Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband is expected to outline the measures in the Commons today, which could include restrictions on trade in agricultural products from settlements.

Last week, Miliband said he would unveil a "comprehensive reset" of the British government's policy on Israel. BBC News has not seen the full details of the measures.

The Israeli government has previously warned it would retaliate if any new measures were introduced.

The US is also likely to oppose the proposals. Its ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, has told the BBC’s Newsday programme he thinks there will "without a doubt" be a reaction from the US.

We’ll bring you the latest in the lead-up to the Commons statement.