UK condemns Israeli settler ‘ethnic cleansing’ in West Bank – The Latest

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0:40The UK appears to be responding really substantially for the first time with concrete actions of their own. The British government agrees that there is ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in areas of the West Bank perpetrated by settler terrorists. There are other countries that have taken steps against settlements, but none, I think, with the weight of the UK. Above all we say, Britain is not silent in the face of deep injustice and nor is it powerless. From the Guardians today in Focus, this is The Latest with me, Lucy Half.

1:16The UK has very strongly condemned settler terrorism in the West Bank where it says ethnic cleansing is being perpetrated. Emma Graham Harrison, and you're our chief Middle East correspondent. We've just been hearing from the new Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband in the Commons. It was a speech that was very specific, but also surprisingly very robust in its language against the actions of the Israeli government, wasn't it? It was an incredibly strong speech. It also included a very strong set of measures designed to try and halt or at least slow the very rapid expansion of settlement construction in the occupied West Bank.

2:05I think it surprised a lot of people that the government had been saying that they were going to unveil something about some steps to perhaps ban imports, but not that many people I've been speaking to expected such a strong package, nor did they expect such strong language condemning the actions of violent settlers who are using terrorism in a campaign of ethnic cleansing in parts of the occupied West Bank. It was very finely tuned in the sense that Miliband described his actions on settlement expansion as aimed at pushing back against Israeli government policy. He made very clear that Israel is and remains an ally of the UK, that Britain's argument is not with the Israeli people.

2:57He was very clear that he saw this as a package designed to support Israel. He specifically condemned the Boycott, Divest and Sanctions Movement, which calls for boycotting of all Israeli products, and said this would essentially reinforce the security ties with Israel inside its green line borders and was only targeting the illegal occupation. Yeah, absolutely. And he was very clear about his identity as a Jewish man, someone that had spent time in Israel as a child in a kibbutz. And he spoke very, very clearly about the difference between criticisms of this Israeli government and the right of Israel to exist as a whole.

3:43There was also, we'll come on to the package of measures, which as you say, was much broader than perhaps we were expecting or that was teased ahead of time. But there was also very strong language on Gaza, the likes of which I think many people would have liked to have heard languages like this since Labour took power in 2024. Yeah, you know, I mean, I think he was very strong in condemning what's happening, the continuing killing of Palestinians, the humanitarian crisis, which is largely a result of blockades imposed by Israel. I think it's really important when thinking about both this and everything he said about the occupied West Bank, perhaps coming back to how he based it all in his own sort of lived experience.

4:29I felt this was presented very much as Britain standing up for human rights. There's definitely going to be critics who are saying this is, you know, Ed Miliband supporting the Palestinian cause. But he framed this very much as part of a long standing decades old British commitment to the rule of law, to the protection of human rights. And he ended on what I personally found a very moving note, talking about his own parents experience as refugees, how they come to the UK to seek safety. and he said my parents found sanctuary and a country that stood up for the rule of law, freedom and self-determination.

5:05Those are the values we're standing up for today. And I thought that was really very powerful because what he was saying is we're standing up for these universal values for everybody, you know, for Palestinians in occupied Palestine, but also for Israelis inside Israel. They too deserve security and prosperity in their future. And I think that framing was very powerful. Yeah, and I think very specifically and explicitly framing that within the context of international law. The last time we spoke, Emma, we were talking about E1 settlements, which is effectively Israeli government plans to divide the West Bank in half, divide the North and South or cut them off from each other.

5:48that seems to have been a real catalyst for Western government to move beyond just strong rhetoric to real concrete action. Would you agree with that? Because it's not just the UK that is taking action. Yeah, I mean, absolutely. I think Miliband himself sort of highlighted that in his speech. He was sort of laying out all these violations that we've seen of international law of human rights, forced displacement. But he then specifically came to the E1 project and he described it as a red line. And, you know, the reason it's a red line is that if this development goes ahead, it will essentially sever the northern part of the West Bank from the southern part of the West Bank.

6:25You know, that's the sort of heart of the area that's meant to be a future Palestinian state, and will essentially make that unviable. You know, you already have a state that's meant to include Gaza and the West Bank, which are very divided, obviously. And, you know, the Israeli politicians who are pursuing that project are absolutely open about what their aim is. Smatrich, the finance minister, has said that this project will bury any Palestinian state, bury the possibility of a Palestinian state. And what to me was interesting about Miliband's package that he laid out today, his response is that for a long time, it's almost like there's been an asymmetry of rhetoric, of dialogue.

7:06You've had Israeli politicians making very inflammatory comments about sort of the two-state solution. You've had their desire to bury it, to prevent the creation of a Palestinian state, to pursue annexation of the occupied West Bank. And you've had the UK and other Western governments, allies of Israel, sort of responding by saying, you know, they're shocked, they're horrified. We're still committed to a two-state solution, but not doing anything about it. Meanwhile, you know, these politicians in Israel, who are not even all the government, you know, as Miliband said, this is part of the government, but they are pursuing very enthusiastically and very actively this project.

7:49And so I think, you know, what's powerful about today is essentially that, you know, the UK appears to be responding really substantially for the first time, two concrete actions, a desire to take, create facts on the ground with concrete actions of their own, you know, using Britain's economic and political leverage. And I think it's worth noting, this is particularly important, because, you know, the UK is a permanent member of the UN Security Council, it's a major power in Europe, this isn't, there are other countries that have taken steps against settlements, but none, I think, with the weight of the UK?

8:25Yes, so in concrete terms, in terms of the action the UK government is taking, I mean, there's a package of measures, but the key part of it is sanctions on goods and services coming out of or being exported from the illegally occupied West Bank. Explain that to us a bit more, and also some of the other measures that were announced today that went further. Well, so I actually think that although those are important, they're sort of headline grabbing, they're very easy for sort of people who aren't hugely engaged with this to understand. I actually think the part that might be more consequential is the part that sort of went over quite quickly, where he said that they're also going to take action against companies which provide finance and facilitate the construction of these settlements.

9:18Now, we don't know what they're going to do, but to give you an example, for construction of most settlements to continue, the construction companies need a guarantee. They need an insurer. So if we've yet to see, he said the exact details of the package aren't going to be clear for six to nine months. But, you know, if this includes a threat to sanction any bank that provides a guarantee to a construction company that's working on E1, that would mean that bank will no longer be able to do business with any banks in the UK. They wouldn't be able to have a corresponding bank account. They wouldn't be able to do business in pounds.

9:56And that, you know, settlements themselves don't produce that much. There's not that much trade to the UK. It's important symbolically. It may affect some businesses, but what it won't do is really create much political pressure on the rest of Israeli society to consider how invested they are in the settlement project. But if you are sort of forcing essentially Israel's major banks and insurers to choose between do they underwrite projects in the settlement or do they continue to trade with British companies and do business in pounds, my guess is that that would probably be quite a straightforward decision for them if they're just looking at it financially, perhaps some are ideological enough.

10:42You know, we've yet to see exactly how that works out. But that may actually have a bigger financial and political impact when we see what the details of that are than the trade in sort of goods and services from the settlements, which, yes, is a sort of political line in the stand. It's a statement, but like in sort of economic terms, isn't so very much. Yeah, yeah. And particularly when you have that sort of action being taken in coordination with France and Canada, that does create a real problem for the Israeli government, doesn't it? Well, you know, I think one thing that's interesting about this is a big speech.

11:17It's certainly a big deal in the UK, you know, more broadly internationally. But I was speaking to one of the best political analysts in Israel just before this, who said, like, you might not understand, like, Israel has become particularly sort of insular, really, in the three years since October 7. And this is a big day inside Israel. There's an election coming up next month and parties have to finalize their list of candidates. That deadline was today. Haaretz newspaper has produced this big bombshell report that Netanyahu had more warnings about the October 7th attacks than have previously been revealed.

11:52And so the domestic sort of debate today is actually focused on these things. So, you know, perhaps as the scale of these measures, the extent of Miliband's condemnation, his decision to, you know, recognise ethnic cleansing, to describe the actions of, you know, these violent settlers as terrorism, perhaps it is going to have bigger impacts. But I think although we've seen very strong condemnation from cabinet members, from the president, I think from from people I've been speaking to here, not many people actually expect this to change the sort of calculus of voters going into this election.

12:31It's not going to be a decisive intervention. Well, we will see when the very crucial Israeli elections happen next month. Emma, thank you so much. Thank you. that's it for today my huge thanks to emma graham harrison our chief middle east correspondent you can keep up with all her reporting over at theguardian.com and if you haven't already i really recommend listening to the second series of the guardians chart-topping black box hosted by michael safie who'll be a familiar voice to today and focus listeners i cannot recommend it highly enough the new season is exploring people's relationships with ai chatbots and how they're quietly reshaping our lives.

13:11All episodes are out now. Search Black Box wherever you get your podcasts. Thanks for listening to this episode of The Latest. Today in Focus, we'll be back in your feeds as usual tomorrow morning. The Latest will be back tomorrow night. This episode was produced by Angus Neal. The senior producer was Ryan Ramgobin. The executive producer was Zoe Hitch. And it was presented by me, Lucy Hough.

13:39Around the time that I was finishing my PhD, I was feeling really awful. You message your mum saying, I'm struggling. Her reply is suspiciously polished. I called my mum and I just railed on her. I was like, mum, did you just use chat GPT? Black Box, The Chatbots, a new series from The Guardian Investigates about the strange things happening between AI and us. The whole series is out right now. Search for Black Box wherever you get your podcasts. This is The Guardian.