ISLAMABAD: Pakistan among more than half a dozen Arab and Muslim countries on Wednesday backed United Kingdom-led sanctions targeting Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, urging other countries to take similar steps.

The UK, France and Canada on Tuesday announced their plans to block imports from Israeli settlements in the West Bank, the latest in a series of actions targeting Israel’s settlement policy that underscore its growing diplomatic isolation among some of its ⁠traditional allies.

The foreign ministers of nine other countries, including Denmark, Norway, Poland, Spain and Sweden, in a separate statement reaffirmed support for a negotiated two-state settlement — ​a Palestinian state co-existing peacefully alongside Israel.

In a joint statement, the foreign ministers of Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Turkiye, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Indonesia, Qatar and Egypt welcomed the UK’s decision to ban the import of goods from illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory and to introduce restrictions on services linked to such settlements.

“[The foreign ministers] express the hope that this decision will help mobilize the international community to take similar actions in line with international law and hold accountable settlement organizations and individuals engaged in illegal settlement activities,” the Pakistani foreign office said in a joint statement.

“The Ministers also welcome the Joint Statement on the Two-State Solution issued by the Foreign Ministers of Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Iceland, Ireland, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom, confirming their intention to introduce national and/or support European restrictions on trade in goods with settlements that are illegal under international law, or to actively consider these and other measures in accordance with their respective national procedures.”

The moves prompted a furious Israel to unveil immediate counter-measures targeting Britain. Later Tuesday, British Prime Minister Andy Burnham, French President Emmanuel Macron and Canadian leader Mark Carney warned in another joint declaration that the settlements “pose a direct and urgent threat” to a two-state solution to the conflict.

Palestinian territory – encompassing the Gaza Strip and West Bank, including East Jerusalem – has been occupied by Israel since 1967. The West Bank, which Palestinians want as the core of a future independent state along with Gaza and East Jerusalem, has seen an acceleration in Israeli settlement activity and settler violence, as well as large-scale displacement caused by Israeli military operations.

The United Nations says Israeli military operations launched in the northern West Bank in January 2025 have led to the territory’s largest and longest displacement crisis since the 1967 Middle East war. Up to 40,000 Palestinians were displaced from refugee camps in Jenin, Tulkarm and Nur Shams, with tens of thousands remaining displaced at the end of last year.

The foreign ministers of the eight Muslim nations said they considered the announced intentions of the UK, France, Canada and other countries to be in line with international law, relevant United Nations resolutions and the Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice of July 19, 2024, including the obligation of all states “not to recognize as legal the situation arising from Israel’s unlawful occupation and not to render aid or assistance in maintaining the situation created by Israel’s occupation.”

“In this regard, they reiterate their call for Israel to rescind all measures taken in connection with settlement activities and other measures aimed at altering the geographic and demographic character of the Occupied Palestinian Territory,” the joint statement read.

“The ministers underscore that Gaza is an integral part of the Occupied Palestinian Territory and call for the full and immediate implementation of President Trump’s Comprehensive Plan to End the Gaza Conflict, to ensure security and stability, address the humanitarian situation, facilitate reconstruction and recovery, and lay the foundations for lasting peace,” it said.

“The ministers underscore that the only viable path to achieving a just, lasting, and comprehensive peace is the implementation of the two-State solution, through the realization of an independent, sovereign, contiguous, and viable Palestinian State, based on the 4 June 1967 lines, with East Jerusalem as its capital.”