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Nations United Against Israel

Britain pushing for economic siege to dismantle settlements


By Stan Goodenough
November 17, 2008

Britain, which prides itself as having played a major part in bringing apartheid South Africa to its knees through the imposition of economic sanctions, wants to implement a similar strategy to force Israel into dismantling Jewish communities in Samaria and Judea.

British Foreign Secretary David Miliband, on a visit to Israel, Sunday conveyed a warning to this effect to the Olmert government.

According to The Jerusalem Post, Miliband is pressing his country's EU partners to impose tighter control of imports from these internationally-hated Jewish settlements.

"European diplomats, speaking on condition of anonymity as a fresh economic offensive on the West Bank [sic] settlements has not been officially approved, said Miliband had been trying to muster support in Brussels for tougher implementation of existing customs regulations in the hope that settlements could be placed under a siege that could help hasten their dismantlement," reported the Post.

The paper referred to a November 4 speech in London, where Miliband "spoke with passion about the despair of Palestinians who, after last November's US-sponsored Annapolis conference, saw a boom in Israeli construction in Samaria and Judea - land the Palestinians seek for a state.

"For Palestinians, feeling cheated and abused, there... are fears... that talks are a screen to cover continued settlement expansion, home demolition, land confiscation and the daily indignities of occupation," the diplomat had said. "Settlement activity is illegal; it also makes a Palestinian state more difficult to achieve by the week."

In a well-worn diplomatic maneuver designed to deflect charges that the British government is biased in favor of the Arab side, Miliband assured Israelis listening on local radio stations Sunday that London has "been engaging with the Syrian government for some time impressing upon them the responsibilities they have to curb the flow of rockets to Hizb'allah [and] to contribute positively to stability in the Middle East ultimately through normalization of their relations with Israel."

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