Geneva, 17 September, 2026.- New measures announced by the United Kingdom concerning Israel’s unlawful occupation of the Palestinian territory are a potentially seismic shift, UN experts said today, taking particular note of the UK Government’s recognition that Palestinians in the West Bank are being subjected to “ethnic cleansing”.
“The UK’s recognition that these settlers are supported by the Israeli Government marks a decisive moment in the global discourse on the occupation of Palestinian territory and the decades-long dispossession of the Palestinian people,” the experts said.
On 8 September 2026, 12 States – Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Iceland, Ireland, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and the UK – announced bans and other measures targeting goods from illegal Israeli settlements, alongside measures by the United Kingdom concerning settlements constructions, financing and advertising and commerce, including arms export licences to Israel.
“This is a long overdue step in the right direction,” the experts said. “Banning trade with Israel’s illegal settlement enterprise is a significant step, and a recognition that settlements are at the heart of Israel’s unlawful occupation, annexation and the ongoing dispossession of Palestinians.”
“The fact that the measures extend beyond settlement goods to activities and financial services that facilitate settlement expansion is significant. If implemented comprehensively, they will begin addressing structures of economic complicity that have for too long contributed to maintaining and expanding Israel’s unlawful occupation.”
The experts said the UK’s formal and public recognition that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory is unlawful is significant. “This starts to bring the UK more in line with the International Court of Justice Advisory Opinion of July 2024, which determined that States are obliged to refrain from recognising, aiding and assisting in maintaining Israel’s unlawful presence in the Palestinian territory.”
“It is about time that all States move beyond rhetoric and measures against illegal settlers, to recognising that the entire architecture of occupation that Israel has built since 1948 is illegal and incompatible with international law,” the experts said.
They also welcomed the UK’s acknowledgment that the findings of the United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem and Israel, among others, constitute mounting evidence of serious violations, and its announced support for judicial processes – including before the ICJ – to establish accountability.
“To make good on its policy shift, the UK must immediately suspend its 2020 Military Cooperation Agreement with Israel and the defence, security and technological cooperation established through the 2021 Strategic Partnership, as well as all arms licences that help to sustain the unlawful occupation,” the experts said. “This must extend across the United Kingdom’s relations with Israel, including concrete measures to immediately ensure that neither public nor private economic activities contribute to the realisation of the illegal development of housing units in the ‘E1 belt’, which will only consolidate Israel’s unlawful presence in the occupied Palestinian territory.”
They urged States to do more to address the wider economic, financial, military and institutional relationships that facilitate and sustain Israel’s unlawful occupation and allow the genocide to continue. The experts called on the UK government and others to undo and redress the repressive policies enacted against anti-genocide activists as well as journalists and civil society.
“The most urgent requirement in this moment is concrete actions to stop the genocide and dismantle Israel’s apartheid system,” the experts said. They pointed to Europe’s particular responsibility to help ensure that Israel complies with human rights and international legal obligations expected of every member of the United Nations and the international community.
“Respect for international law is not optional and cannot remain declaratory.” the experts said. “The international community now has an opportunity to translate the findings of international courts, including the ICJ and ICC, and other international mechanisms into meaningful action.”
“The United Kingdom has made a welcome start. It can now lead the way towards a future grounded in a decolonised multilateralism, accountability and respect for international law.”