Israel threatens UK officials with expulsion in ‘payback’ over settlements

Israel is considering expelling British officials from the US-led headquarters overseeing the Gaza ceasefire in retaliation for mounting UK criticism of the country’s illegal settlement expansion and policies in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, according to the Financial Times.

The move could also target representatives from Germany and Italy and would deepen an increasingly bitter diplomatic rift between Israel and some of its traditional European allies. Israel has already expelled Spanish and Dutch officials from the International Gaza Support Center (IGSC) over their governments’ positions towards Israel.

The IGSC, formerly known as the Civil-Military Coordination Center, operates from Kiryat Gat in southern Israel. Led by US military officers, it brings together Israeli forces with military and diplomatic representatives from around 50 countries and international organisations to monitor the ceasefire in Gaza, humanitarian aid and other developments in the besieged enclave.

Read: UK weighs raft of measures against Israel as pressure grows for action to match rhetoric

Multiple sources familiar with discussions reported that Israeli officials have considered removing the UK from the centre in recent weeks as UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham seeks measures to sanction Israeli settlements.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar demonstrated the government’s readiness to use access to the centre as a diplomatic weapon this week when he ordered Dutch representatives expelled following the Netherlands’ decision to boycott products produced in illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, East Jerusalem and Golan Heights.

“Israel will not allow measures to be taken against it without a response,” Sa’ar declared.

Spain had already been expelled from the centre, with Israeli officials accusing Madrid of an “obsessive anti-Israel bias”. The prospect of Britain becoming the next country targeted suggests Israel is increasingly prepared to retaliate against European governments taking even limited measures in response to its occupation and settlement expansion.

Burnham has indicated that his government could ban trade in goods produced in illegal Israeli settlements, while Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband has promised tougher measures against Israel over the accelerating colonisation of Palestinian land.

Last week, the UK joined Germany, Italy and other governments in condemning Israel’s decision to advance construction tenders for the controversial E1 settlement project east of Jerusalem. The project would drive an Israeli settlement corridor through a strategically crucial section of the occupied West Bank, severing Palestinian territorial continuity and further isolating East Jerusalem.

Miliband described E1 as an “unacceptable and destructive act” and warned that it could cut “across the heart of Palestine”. Britain summoned Israel’s chargé d’affaires over the decision and demanded that the Netanyahu government halt the plan.

“Britain will not stand back and accept the destruction of the Two-State Solution,” Miliband said.

The European Commission and a growing number of governments have since joined calls for Israel to abandon the project.

The dispute is unfolding as the US-brokered Gaza ceasefire itself remains deeply fragile.

Israeli forces continue to occupy more than half of the devastated Gaza Strip and have carried out repeated attacks despite the agreement reached in October.

President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace has failed to break the impasse. Senior US envoy Jared Kushner visited the region last week for talks with Hamas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, but sources described his four-hour meeting with Netanyahu as having gone badly.

The question of whether Israel can unilaterally remove Britain and other countries from the IGSC is itself disputed. Two sources told the FT that expulsions may require approval from the US-led Board of Peace, while another argued that Israel has sovereign authority to decide who may remain on its territory.

British officials appear unsurprised by the threat. One person familiar with the discussions said that, after Israel made examples of Spain and the Netherlands, some form of “payback” against Britain was predictable.

More than 140 British MPs have meanwhile urged Burnhama to proceed with a ban on goods produced in illegal Israeli settlements.