LONDON: The UK’s new foreign secretary demanded on Tuesday that Israel crack down on settler violence in the occupied West Bank.
In his first call with Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar, Ed Miliband called on Israel to end restrictions on aid entering Gaza.
“I raised the sharp escalation of settler violence and settlement expansion, as well as the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza,” Miliband said after the call. “I said Israel must crack down on violence in the West Bank, and must immediately end blockages on aid into Gaza.”
He described the call as “frank and constructive.”
While his comments on settler violence and aid to Gaza echo the statements of the previous foreign secretary, there has been speculation that the UK government will take a tougher line against Israel under new Prime Minister Andy Burnham.
His predecessor Keir Starmer, who resigned last month, came under fierce criticism, particularly from within his own party, for taking a soft approach to Israel’s war on Gaza.
In the initial months after the conflict erupted in October 2023, he refused to back calls for a ceasefire and insisted on Israel’s right to self defense.
By the time he became prime minister in July 2024, Starmer was calling for a ceasefire and condemning Israel’s blockade of aid to the territory.
But he refused to impose a full arms embargo against the country or refer to Israel’s slaughter of Palestinians as “genocide.”
Burnham last month apologized for the Labour Party’s initial response to the conflict in Gaza, saying the party needed to “do better.”
Whether there will be a shift towards a tougher stance against Israel remains to be seen.
Miliband's comments to his Israeli counterpart came as Jewish settler violence escalates in the occupied West Bank.
Efforts to push forward the US-led Gaza peace plan are also under threat after Israel refused to agree to a latest proposal for Hamas to disarm while Israel withdraws its military from some areas in the territory.
Miliband said he had reiterated to Saar that Hamas “must decommission its weapons, the IDF should withdraw, and that we must see progress on the 20-point-plan.”
He also stated that the UK remained committed to a two-state solution to the conflict, something many observers believe has become impossible due to Israel’s construction of settlements on occupied Palestinian land in the West Bank.
More than 73,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the war started in response to a militant raid into Israel that killed nearly 1,200 people.
