UK PM defends WB trade ban after Israel's retaliation

LONDON: UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham defended on Wednesday his government's ban on trade with illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank after Israel retaliated against London-led Western sanctions over settler violence. Israel ordered the closure of Britain's consulate in Jerusalem among other measures in response to the sanctions move on Tuesday by 12 countries, which condemned violence against Palestinians in the territory.
'Where people are being bullied out of their homes, intimidated, we will always stand with the underdog and take what action we can to support them,' Burnham told parliament. Countries including Britain, Canada and France announced they would sanction trade with Israeli settlements in the West Bank, following a surge in settler attacks against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank. Responding, Israel said it would also expel British representatives at a centre monitoring the US-brokered ceasefire plan in Gaza, bar British training for Palestinian Authority forces and ban 12 Britons, mostly members of parliament, from visiting the country.
'In this difficult and dangerous world, Britain has to stand for something,' added Burnham, saying the UK was standing for 'fairness against injustice'. Burnham also defended the timing of the move after critics suggested it could embolden the Israeli far right ahead of elections next month. He said it was necessary because the tender for 1,200 homes due to be built as part of Israel's new E1 settlement 'concludes' before the polls on October 27.
Earlier on Wednesday, UK foreign minister Ed Miliband condemned as 'regrettable and damaging' Israel's decision to order the closure of the consulate. 'We anticipated this might happen because we saw other countries, the Dutch, for example, who had announced sanctions, who had seen these reprisals from Israel. I think they're regrettable and damaging,' Miliband said.
Miliband rejected suggestions that the sanctions would impact intelligence cooperation with Israel. 'I was very clear yesterday that we do believe in working with our Israeli partners when it comes to the threats they face from Iran,' he added. Miliband also dismissed the criticism of the sanctions by Britain's chief rabbi, Ephraim Mirvis. On Tuesday, Mirvis called the measures 'little more than political flag-bearing'. He said it was 'truly a dark day for British Jews', predicting that the measures 'will succeed only in bolstering the very extremism they seek to target'. Wednesday's announcement is evidence of a toughening of Britain's approach towards Israel under Burnham, who succeeded the more centrist Keir Starmer as UK premier in July.
Separately, Israel's Foreign Minister Gideon Saar on Wednesday said his country was 'not planning to expel or to deport anyone from Gaza Strip' during a visit to Slovenia for the opening of an Israeli embassy. If someone wants to leave Gaza 'from his own will, and there is a country which is ready to accept him, as it happens from any conflict area in the world, we will not oppose that,' he added.
Several Israeli cabinet members have spoken of plans to remove all two million people from war-ravaged Gaza, although they largely cast the initiative as voluntary, saying that Palestinians want to leave and are prevented by the group Hamas. Saar was speaking at a press conference in Ljubljana ahead of the opening of an Israeli embassy there as Slovenia looks to reset diplomatic ties with Israel under nationalist Prime Minister Janez Jansa. — AFP