Update: 11 September 2026
The Foreign Office has confirmed to several journalists that the new measures including the settlement trade ban will include the occupied Golan Heights as well as occupied East Jerusalem. This is very welcome. It is vital that other states adopting a ban include all the territories that Israel occupied in 1967, so that they will be consistent in the application of international law.
Press Release: Caabu writes to UK Foreign Secretary about trade ban with illegal Israeli settlements in the Golan Heights
11 September 2026
In a letter to the UK Foreign Secretary, Ed Miliband, Caabu Director Chris Doyle has sought clarification as to whether the 8 September announcement of a ban on trade with Israeli settlements includes the illegal settlements on the occupied Syrian Golan Heights.
Doyle pointed out that the 35 settlements in the Golan Heights with a settler population of 30,000 were just as illegal as those in the West Bank, a flagrant breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949. These settlements too have had a huge impact on the Syrian residents of the Golan Heights.
Commenting on this Doyle said, “I did raise this orally in a meeting with the Foreign Office Minister Stephen Doughty, on 7 September. If the British government is to be consistent, which I am sure it wishes to be, then the ban must include all the territories Israel occupied in 1967, including the Golan Heights. We know wines from the occupied Golan Heights are sold and marketed in the UK. This needs to end.”
Caabu had welcomed the measures taken on 8 September. They represent a significant step-change in the UK approach, shifting from a strong declaratory position about the illegality of settlements to taking tangible measures.
Ends...
Notes to editors:
- For more information or interviews contact Chris Doyle on +44 (0)7968 040281
- Caabu issued a statement welcoming the settlement trade ban here
https://www.caabu.org/news/news/caabu-welcomes-significant-uk-government-shift-towards-ending-israels-unlawful-occupation - Chris Doyle has written two articles for Al Jazeera here - https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2026/9/8/the-shift-in-british-policy-on-israel-is-palpable and for Middle Easy Eye here https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/miliband-decisively-broken-with-decades-uk-inaction-on-palestine
- For Arabic speakers please see this interview on Al Jazeera Arabic with Chris Doyle and Layla Moran MP - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GFUUfN5ikQ
