Britain’s Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband on Wednesday condemned Israel's move to launch a tender for the West Bank E1 settlement project, and summoned the country's charge d'affaires.
He said the British government would prepare targeted sanctions against Israelis participating in “illegal settlement expansion” in Gaza and the West Bank, in the latest sign of Labour’s hardening stance toward Israel.
The E1 settlement project is a widely condemned Israeli plan that would cut across land the Palestinians seek for a state.
Mr Miliband said he made clear to the Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar that "the Israeli Government must halt E1 plans immediately, retract the tender and stop all settlement expansion".
He promised a “comprehensive set of measures to respond to Israeli government policies, protect the viability of the Palestinian state, target sanctions at those who participate in illegal settlement expansion and support a just and lasting peace for Israelis and Palestinians".
Mr Saar responded on Thursday, saying he rejected Mr MIliband's statemen and its "patronising tone".
Israel has opened tenders for about 1,200 homes to be built in the occupied West Bank, with a deadline set before October’s general election.
It has approved more than 3,400 housing units for E1, a tract of land east of Jerusalem, which has been under consideration for development for more than two decades but was frozen due to US pressure during previous administrations.
Mr Miliband described the publication of a tender for the project as an “unacceptable and destructive act”.
“E1 would cut across the heart of Palestine and risks separating the West Bank from East Jerusalem, which would endanger the viability of a two-state solution,” he said in a statement.
“The UK has been clear privately and publicly in our opposition to E1 and our support for a two-state solution as the only way to ensure long-term security and peace for both Palestinians and Israelis. All settlements damage that prospect and are a flagrant breach of international law.”
The remarks underscore a tougher UK stance toward Benjamin Netanyahu’s government under Andy Burnham, a shift that was evident before he formally became prime minister in July. He apologised for Labour’s previous stance on Israel’s military action in Gaza under predecessor Keir Starmer, saying the party “didn’t get it right.”
There is no Israeli ambassador to the UK after the departure of Tzipi Hotovely from the post when her term ended in late 2025.
Daniela Grudsky Ekstein, the Israeli charge d’affaires, was told of “the UK’s profound objection to this move by the Netanyahu government”. Mr Miliband demanded an immediate reversal.
He said the “impact of settler violence and terrorism has been catastrophic for Palestinian communities. Settlement expansion and attempts to create irreversible divisions on the ground threaten peace, security and the prospects for a viable Palestinian state”.
Britain would not stand back and accept the destruction of the two-state solution, Mr Miliband said.
In his response, Mr Saar said: "The Jewish people have the right to live throughout the Land of Israel, just as the British have the right to live in London and throughout the United Kingdom. More than a century ago, the Balfour Declaration formally recognised the historic right of the Jewish people to re-establish their national home in the Land of Israel - including in the area in question. Britain itself still controls colonial territories thousands of miles from its shores. It is absurd for Britain to lecture the Jewish people about where they may live in their historic tiny homeland, when the Jewish people’s connection and right to this land is the most extensively documented of any people in human history."
He said the UK government had damaged the relationship between the two countries and raised the issue of anti-Semitism in Britain.
"The UK Government’s systematic policy of blaming only Israel while ignoring Palestinian extremism has already contributed to a massive wave of anti-Semitic hatred and attacks against the British Jewish community," he said on X. "Continuing down this path will only make the situation worse."
In June, five European nations warned businesses not to seek contracts for Israel's E1 settlement project, calling it a “deliberate and direct attack” on the viability of a Palestinian state, saying it could bring on unprecedented annexation and forced displacement.
Denmark, Greece, France, Latvia and the UK, which together form the so-called E5 group on the UN Security Council, issued the statement before a meeting to discuss Palestine.
Earlier on Wednesday, the UK’s new Minister for the Middle East called on Israel to allow more aid into Gaza during a visit to humanitarian aid centres near the Egyptian border.
Stephen Doughty was at Al Arish, where stockpiles of aid are stored as they await permission to enter Gaza through the Rafah border crossing. Commenting on these, Mr Doughty said current aid flows were “simply too low”.
“I know how appalled people across Britain have been at the death and suffering in Gaza. That is why I have made this my first visit to the region, and is why I am calling again on Israel to allow aid to reach those in need,” he said.
