Sanctions on Israeli settlements: Here’s what Europe is saying and doing

Relations between Israel and European states have deteriorated after the UK led moves on Tuesday to impose sanctions against Israeli settlements. In London, UK Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband, using some of the harshest language by a government minister about Israel, said that the decision came amid the “ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in areas of the West Bank perpetrated by settler terrorists”. In Paris, meanwhile, his opposite number Jean-Noel Barrot announced similar measures, saying that “France cannot, through its trade, support a situation that threatens the security of Israelis and Palestinians alike”.