UK awards deals worth millions to firms linked to illegal Israeli settlements

The British government has awarded £10.7m ($14.4m) in public contracts to firms linked to illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, it has emerged. The contracts were published after Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband announced comprehensive sanctions on the settlements on 8 September in parliament, according to an Al Jazeera investigation. "To those who finance or facilitate illegal settlements, let me say this: you will face the full force of UK sanctions," Miliband said. "Settlements are illegal." But the sanctions have not yet come into force and implementing them could take up to nine months, according to government sources.