“Stop Trade with Settlements”

Posted: 15th September 2025

The Britain Palestine Project is proud to support the new international campaign, launched today, to “Stop Trade with Settlements” and welcomes its meticulously researched and authoritative report  Trading with Illegal Settlements.

The alliance of more than 80 civil society organisations, including BPP, which has endorsed this report is demanding that countries ban all trade (goods, services and investments) with Israel’s illegal settlements. The report also focusses on the responsibilities of international corporations and businesses trading with illegal Israeli settlements. Two UK based businesses are specifically named: JCB and Barclays Bank.

The effects of Israel’s illegal settlement project in fragmenting the Occupied West Bank, destroying the Palestinian economy, displacing and dispossessing Palestinians and attempting to prevent the emergence of a Palestinian State are described.  Settlements now cover more than 42% of the West Bank, and revived plans for the area known as E1 will cut the West Bank in half and complete the encirclement of Jerusalem. On-going trade supports settlements and directly enables the humanitarian crisis in the West Bank and East Jerusalem which is driven by Israel’s prolonged occupation.

The International Criminal Court Advisory Opinion of July 2024 ruled that Israel’s occupation was illegal and that Israel’s illegal settlements and their supporting infrastructure were crucial in maintaining and expending that occupation. Governments that allow settlement trade to continue are themselves complicit in maintaining and assisting the illegal occupation. The companies and corporations involved are in breach of UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, and risk complicity in violations of International Humanitarian, and Human Rights Law.

Specific demands for the UK Government include:
- adopt and implement legislation explicitly banning trade, including services and investment, with settlements. Ireland, Spain, Slovenia and Belgium are already committed to a trade ban, and together with five other EU member states are urging the EU to introduce an EU-wide ban.
- suspend the UK-Israel Trade Agreement until Israel complies with its obligations under the human rights clauses
- bar financial institutions, banks and other corporations  headquartered within the UK from investing with settlement based companies, or in transactions with other companies that assist or maintain Israel’s illegal occupation.

Recommendations for Corporations and Financial Institutions involved in settlement trade
- undertake heightened human rights due diligence over the entire value chain; and end any involvement in business activities that directly support or benefit Israeli settlements or contribute to maintaining Israel’s illegal occupation.

This would apply to UK-based corporations such as JCB, whose construction equipment is sold through an Israeli dealer and used in settlement building, and in demolition of Palestinian homes and structures, and Barclays Bank which in the period 2021-2024 provided $18.1bn in loans and underwriting to settlement-linked companies.

You can join in on the launch of the new Stop Trade with Settlements joint report and international campaign webinar, today at 1pm UK time. This event will spotlight Palestinian voices sharing firsthand experiences of life under occupation, alongside contributions from Independent Senator Frances Black, who has championed groundbreaking legislation in the Irish Parliament to ban trade with illegal Israeli settlements—legislation now supported across the political spectrum. The session will also include a Q&A, offering participants the chance to engage directly with speakers and learn more about this vital campaign.

BPP will continue its pressure on the UK Government to follow the example of Ireland, Slovenia, Spain and Belgium and legislate to ban all trade with settlements.

We urge our supporters to read the report and use the information within it to lobby MPs in support of a trade ban, and to persuade companies to reconsider any existing involvement in settlement trade.

Best wishes,


Phyllis Starkey
Vice Chair of Britain Palestine Project, Former MP (1997-2010)