UK urges British firms to stop activities in ‘illegal Israeli settlements’

The UK government urges British businesses and citizens to refrain from conducting financial activities in West Bank Israeli settlements, which most of the international community considers illegal.

The statement comes after the UK and several other countries issued sanctions targeting settlement expansion and settler violence.

“I have strengthened our business risk guidance to make it clear and unambiguous: if you are a British citizen or business, you should not conduct any economic and financial activities in illegal Israeli settlements,” Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper tells UK parliament.

“We believe that violent settler groups should not be profiting from the land that they have seized from Palestinians,” Cooper adds, saying the Israeli “government has condemned some settler violence, but that rings hollow when there is scant accountability.”