Israel to close British consulate in East Jerusalem after UK, France and Canada ban imports from settlements
By Alexander Cornwell, Elizabeth Piper and John Irish
LONDON/TEL AVIV/PARIS, Sept 8 (Reuters) - Israel said on Tuesday it was closing Britain's consulate in East Jerusalem in response to plans by the UK, France and Canada to block imports from Israeli settlements in the West Bank.
Britain will also no longer participate in a U.S.-led coordination mission for Gaza and some British officials and other nationals will be banned from entering Israel, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said.
"The British move is morally distorted, and constitutes blatant interference in the affairs of a sovereign state and its electoral process," he said, describing comments by Foreign Minister Ed Miliband as accusations that were "outrageous lies".
The British consulate in East Jerusalem is accredited to the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank.
Saar said that he had coordinated Israel's response with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Israel will hold an election in late October.
TRADE MEASURES
The trade measures proposed by Britain, France and Canada on Tuesday are the latest in a series of actions targeting Israel's settlement policy and underscore its growing diplomatic isolation among some of its traditional allies.
A wider group of countries on Tuesday signalled it was prepared to take further steps to defend the two-state solution - a Palestinian state co-existing peacefully alongside Israel. Concern is mounting over settlement expansion and violence in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Miliband said on Tuesday that Britain could no longer simply "call out" injustice and suffering, but had to act to oppose the expansion of settlements, which he said threatened the viability of a Palestinian state.
The United Nations, Palestinians and most countries regard settlements as illegal under international law. Israel disputes this.
"Successive Canadian governments have held the position that a two-state solution is the way forward for long-term peace that also addresses Israel's legitimate security concerns. Illegal settlements in the West Bank significantly undermine these objectives," Canadian Foreign Minister Anita Anand wrote on X.
A Reuters report published on Tuesday found Israel's government is financing some of the West Bank's most radical settlers, who use illegal outpost farms to displace Palestinians.
($1 = 0.7393 pounds)
(Reporting by Sarah Young and Elizabeth Piper in London, Alexander Cornwell in Tel Aviv, John Irish in Paris and Maria Cheng in Ottawa, Writing by Sarah Young and Charlie Devereux, Editing by Aidan Lewis, Ros Russell and Timothy Heritage)
