The BBC’s Middle East correspondent Lucy Williamson reports from Ma’ale Adumim – an existing Israeli settlement in the occupied West Bank, overlooking Israel’s proposed E1 site.
UK Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband, speaking to Parliament on Tuesday, announced sanctions on Israeli settlements in the West Bank “to deter settlement expansion” and “prevent the development of E1”.
Israel has opened up tenders for the construction of some 1,200 settlement homes at the proposed site.
Miliband said he would ban the import of goods from Israel’s “illegal settlements” in the West Bank. He also said “ethnic cleansing” was being carried out by “settler terrorists” and accused the Israeli government of turning a “blind eye”.
Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Saar responded to the move by saying that Israel will close the British consulate in Jerusalem and called the UK government “hostile”.
