LONDON: UK Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband last week fired the starting gun on efforts to end British trade with Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. The government plans to introduce legislation within six to nine months. The question now is whether Britain’s existing customs and sanctions infrastructure is equipped to distinguish and block such trade. “In a word, no,” one customs expert told Arab News, pointing to the difficulties Britain faced after leaving the EU. “Obviously, the scale was completely different.” UK trade with Israel totaled about £6 billion last year, while trade involving West Bank settlements amounted to just over £8 million, according to the Israel Manufacturers’ Association. By comparison, UK-EU trade runs into hundreds of billions of pounds annually. “But you do not have the issue of needing to distinguish between two economies,” the customs expert added. That distinction lies at the heart of the enforcement challenge. For years, campaigners have warned of the difficulties in reliably distinguishing goods originating inside Israel from those produced in settlements in the occupied West Bank. “This is why the obvious answer is to simply sanction all Israeli goods,” a legal academic told Arab News, arguing that such an approach would be easier to enforce. Such a step, however, would go significantly beyond the government’s stated policy. Miliband and the government have sought to distinguish their opposition to settlements from opposition to Israel itself. Sources familiar with briefings between Foreign Office officials and the British Embassy in Tel Aviv told The Times that officials had raised concerns about the practical difficulties of enforcing a settlement-specific regime. One source told the newspaper that ministers had been warned policing the measures would be difficult because of problems tracing the precise origin of shipments. Those concerns were underlined shortly before Miliband’s announcement when the nonprofit legal group Global Echo threatened legal action against HM Revenue and Customs. Goods produced in Israeli settlements have been excluded from preferential tariff treatment under the UK-Israel trade agreement since 2005. Global Echo, however, says weaknesses in the system have allowed settlement products to enter European markets while being declared as Israeli goods. Its investigation analyzed more than 30,000 export documents over a nine-year period up to February this year and found that about one in six agricultural shipments listed as Israeli were in fact products originating in settlements. “Global Echo identifies a number of Israeli exporting companies that its evidence reveals have exported settlement goods to the UK and asks HMRC to explain whether it has taken any steps to check, investigate or verify preferential tariff claims made in respect of those products, and, if so, what those inquiries found,” the group said. “Should HMRC fail to adequately address these concerns, Global Echo plans to pursue legal action.” Not everyone considers enforcement an impossible task. Amnesty International has strongly backed restrictions on trade with Israeli settlements, arguing that they “are at the heart of Israel’s illegal occupation and system of apartheid — and the trade that sustains them must be stopped.” It has pointed to the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation and the Office of Trade Sanctions Implementation, which already have powers to impose civil and criminal penalties and have been used to enforce sanctions against Russia since 2022. HMRC and the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office declined to comment to Arab News. However, Arab News understands the government regards enforcement as a priority as it seeks to curb economic activity supporting settlements, which Britain considers illegal under international law. Government sources have stressed that strong action could be taken against companies and individuals that breach the measures, including the potential confiscation of assets deemed to be the proceeds of crime. The customs expert warned, however, that the effectiveness of the policy would depend on how clearly the government explains the rules to the companies moving goods and processing the accompanying paperwork. “My experience from Brexit leaves me concerned,” the expert said.