Ed Miliband is expected to set out the measures in a statement to MPs on Tuesday. Photograph: Neil Hall/EPA
Ed Miliband to reassert support for Palestinian rights and a two-state solution in move fiercely criticised by US and Israel
Ed Miliband will announce a broad reset of the UK’s relations with Israel on Tuesday, promising the government will take a more active approach in supporting the Palestinian cause.
In an intervention which has already drawn fierce criticism from the US and Israel, the foreign secretary will impose a UK ban on the trade in goods and some services from illegal Israeli settlements.
He has also told civil society groups he is determined to reassert support for a two-state solution to the conflict, with an appeal for the protection of Palestinian rights and respect for international law.
The prime minister, Andy Burnham, spoke to the US president, Donald Trump, on Monday night, a call which No 10 said “stressed the importance of a two-state solution”, but it gave no other details of the conversation.
On Tuesday the US ambassador to Israel said the US could issue its own reprisals against the UK. Mike Huckabee, who had claimed the Labour government is gripped by “Jew hatred”, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme it would “do great damage to any Brits who are doing business in a number of states in the US”.
Comment by dizzy: It’s an inadequate and delayed response by the UK government following it’s extended active participation is Israel’s Gaza genocide. [11am: Actually continuing UK’s active participation in Israel’s Gaza genocide. Addressing illegal settlements only is inadequate(ed: and a distraction). ]
What’s needed is a total severance of relations with Israel: it needs to be recognised and treated as a state committing the war crimes of genocide and forced displacement. Anything less that that may be regarded as complicity in genocide. Arms sales and military assistance and co-operation must end.
Genocide denying UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy says that UK is suspending 30 of 350 arms licences to Israel. He also confirms the UK government’s support for Israel’s Gaza genocide and the UK government and military’s active participation in genocide.Genocide denier and Current UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is quoted that he supports Zionism without qualification. He also confirms that UK air force support has been essential in Israel’s mass-murdering genocide. Includes URLs https://www.declassifieduk.org/keir-starmers-100-spy-flights-over-gaza-in-support-of-israel/ and https://youtu.be/O74hZCKKdpA
This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Pope Leo XIV celebrates a Mass at St. Mary of Angels’ Basilica in Assisi, Italy, on August 06, 2026. [Riccardo De Luca – Anadolu Agency]
Pope Leo XIV on Sunday renewed his call for an end to violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and urged the international community to advance efforts toward a two-state solution, Anadolu reports.
Speaking after the weekly Angelus prayer, Leo called for an end “to the repeated acts of violence against the Palestinian population of the West Bank,” according to Vatican News.
He also issued an urgent appeal to the international community “to ensure that progress is made toward a two-state solution, for a just and lasting peace.”
The Vatican has consistently maintained that a two-state solution based on secure and internationally recognized borders is the only viable and equitable path toward lasting peace between Palestine and Israel.
The pope also marked the start of the Mediterranean Games in the southern Italian city of Taranto, expressing hope that the sporting event would serve as “a prophetic sign of peace and fraternity among the peoples of this region and of the whole world.”
Athletes from countries in Africa, Asia and Europe bordering the Mediterranean are taking part in the event.
UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham admits to blatently lying and engaging in deception to become leader of the UK Labour Party and Prime Minister.Orcas discuss rotting brain, front Orca says Sundown Syndrome is a dead givaway and he wishes someone would Lock Him Up
People walk down a street surrounded by buildings destroyed by Israeli bombardments in the Gaza Strip, July 29, 2025
ISRAELI ministers have again exposed how hollow are Western claims to back a two-state solution.
Yet global opinion on Israel’s colonial project has reached a tipping point — and the prospect of real change cannot be dismissed.
National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir leads settlers in a march through occupied East Jerusalem. En route, he calls for Israel to annex Gaza.
Defence Minister Israel Katz decrees: “We will strengthen our hold and sovereignty over Jerusalem, at the Western Wall, and the Temple Mount, forever.”
These are not aberrations: Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed that he will never tolerate a Palestinian state.
Faced with such extremism, any government serious about a Palestinian state would need to impose tough conditions on Israel: full withdrawal from the West Bank and Gaza included.
Yet what conditions do they seek to apply?
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer says Britain will recognise Palestine unless Israel “takes substantive steps to end the appalling situation in Gaza.”
Feeble as that is, at least Starmer makes demands of the aggressor, Israel.
Canada’s Mark Carney decided to lecture the people being massacred. Canada would recognise Palestine — subject to democratic reforms, including elections in which (very democratically) Hamas would be banned.
France’s Emmanuel Macron repeated that an independent Palestine would need to be demilitarised — as if Palestine threatens the existence of Israel, rather than the other way around.
The coloniser’s mindset. Palestine can be “independent,” but only if it chooses leaders we like, and has no means of defending itself.
Keir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza’s hospitals and universities,mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.Vote Labour for Genocide.UK Labour Party government ministers Keir Starmer, Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves explain that they are partners complicit in Israel’s Gaza genocide. The UK has provided Israel with arms, military and air force support. They explain that they don’t do gas chambers but do do forced marches, starvation, destroy hospitals, mass-murders of journalists and healthcare workers.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu (right) denied any possibility of a Palestinian state now or in future, rejecting Joe Biden’s (left) peace proposals earlier this week. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)
Rejecting proposals for peace in the region, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu denies any possibility of a two-state solution, wants Israeli occupation on Palestinian land to continue forever
Israel does not see any possibility of a two-state solution, proclaimed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday, January 18 even as his forces killed more than 150 Palestinians in less than 24 hours in various air and ground offensives across Gaza and other occupied territories. Gazans are also facing an unprecedented days-long communications blackout.
As of Friday, January 19, day 105 of the war, over 24,760 Palestinians have been killed and over 62,000 have been wounded in Israeli attacks on Gaza which began on October 7.
In one Israeli attack, at least 15 civilians, most of them children and women, were killed near the Al-Shifa hospital on Friday morning and massive Israeli attacks are taking place in Khan Younis.
Al-Shifa and other hospitals in Gaza have been repeatedly attacked by the Israeli forces since the early days of the war despite condemnations and allegations of war crimes.
Meanwhile, Israeli forces continued their raid in Tulkarm in the occupied West Bank for the second consecutive day on Thursday. At least eight Palestinians have been killed in the raids with over a hundred injuries.
During the raid, Israeli forces shot and left Abdul Rahman Othman on the ground, preventing any medical aid from reaching him. They also tied his leg with rope and dragged his body on the ground. Othman died of his wounds later, Wafareported.
Israeli forces also bombed several houses inside the refugee camp which has been attacked several times since October 7 and detained hundreds of Palestinians.
The total number of Palestinians killed in the occupied West Bank since October 7 is now close to 370. At least 95 of these were children.
Unprecedented communication blackout in Gaza
In yet another attempt to prevent the flow of information about humanitarian suffering in Gaza caused by its war, Israeli forces have maintained a near total communication blockade in the territory for eight straight days now. This is the longest communication blackout imposed on Gaza since October 7.
Palestinian telecommunication companies PalTel and Ooredoo had announced a halt in their operation last week claiming their lines and infrastructure were completely damaged due to Israeli aggression. They have not been able to restore their services due to lack of equipment and repair work prevented due to Israeli blockade and attacks on the staff carrying out the repair work.
Ihab Sbeih, undersecretary of the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology claimed on Thursday that, “the communication sector has been continuously targeted during the Israeli aggression on Gaza with the extent of damage exceeding 80%. He also claimed that the technical crew has been constantly targeted by Israel, preventing them from carrying out repair work,” Wafa news reported.
At least two crew members of PalTel were killed last Saturday when their vehicle was attacked by Israeli forces in Khan Younis.
Israel says no to a two-state solution
In a press conference on Thursday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu publicly denied any possibility of a Palestinian state now or in future in what is seen as a direct rebuttal to Joe Biden administration’s proposals earlier this week for a post-war scenario in the region.
“In any future arrangement, or in the absence of an arrangement Israel must maintain security control of all territory west of the Jordan River. That is the vital condition” Netanyahu said.
Facing widespread criticism for its total support to the Israeli genocide of Palestinians in Gaza since October 7, the Joe Biden administration has paid lip service to the proposal for a Palestinian state as a way forward for peace in the region.
As a compensation to Israel the US promised increased normalization with the Arab countries including Saudi Arabia. The proposals were worked out during Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s fourth visit to the region since October 7 last week.
Speaking in Davos during the World Economic Forum, Blinken claimed on Wednesday that a two-state solution would bring “genuine security” to Israel as it will bring it closer to Arab states and isolate Iran.
Perhaps to pre-empt the Israeli rejection, Blinken emphasized that no future Palestinian government would be allowed to work “in active opposition to Israel.”
People walk down a street surrounded by buildings destroyed by Israeli bombardments in the Gaza Strip, July 29, 2025
