The United States ambassador to Israel has warned that Britain could face retaliation if it proceeds with sanctions on Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, hours before the British government was due to set out the measures in parliament.
اضافة اعلان
Mike Huckabee told the BBC on Tuesday that action against Israel would carry consequences, and that British companies could find themselves unable to operate in some American states. Asked whether Washington would respond, he said there would be a reaction without doubt, and predicted a substantial impact on British business.
Huckabee accused the Labour government of discrimination, and dismissed the planned measures as poorly considered. Britain is a sovereign nation and free to act as it chooses, he added, but so is the United States.
Several American states maintain laws barring public contracts or investment with businesses that boycott Israeli firms, including those based in West Bank settlements. Those statutes are the mechanism Huckabee's warning appears to invoke.
What Britain is announcing
Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband was expected to give details to the House of Commons on Tuesday, after saying last week that he intended to reset relations with Israel. The government said the measures respond to a settlement expansion programme that threatens the prospect of a Palestinian state.
The existing British sanctions cover individual settlers and outposts. Tuesday's announcement is set to extend them to trade in goods from all West Bank settlements, and possibly to some services. Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden said the measures are not a boycott of Israeli goods generally but target settlement expansion specifically.
The commercial effect is likely to be limited. Annual trade between Britain and Israel runs at roughly $8 billion, only a small share of which originates in the West Bank. British exports are led by pharmaceutical products, with fruit and vegetables the main imports.
Israeli response
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said that if Britain acts against Israel, Israel will act against Britain. Other senior ministers also condemned the announcement before it was made.
The E1 project
The dispute centres on E1, a settlement plan east of Jerusalem that would separate the northern and southern West Bank and cut East Jerusalem off from the territory around it. Miliband has previously described it as a clear breach of international law.
The Israeli organisations Ir Amim, Bimkom and Peace Now said on August 18 that Israel had issued a tender for 1,234 housing units within E1. The full scheme involves around 3,400 units, according to the same groups.
The United Nations holds that settlement activity in the occupied Palestinian territories is unlawful and erodes the viability of a two-state solution, a position it has maintained for decades. Palestinians seek occupied East Jerusalem as the capital of a future state, on the basis of international resolutions that recognise neither Israel's occupation of the city in 1967 nor its annexation in 1980.
Source: Al-Ghad, citing Anadolu.
