What is the EU’s intention to limit trade with illegal territories with Israel? | | Israel-Palestine War News

Foreign ministers of the European Union met in Brussels Monday to discuss whether there is sufficient support for new measures to limit trade with Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.

“Everyone agrees that the situation in the West Bank is serious,” EU chief Kaja Kallas said at the start of the meeting.

“What is happening in the West Bank is making it impossible for two countries to start working together.”

Here is more information on the ongoing EU negotiations on Israeli settlements.

What options are EU foreign ministers discussing?

The talks were based on a confidential European Commission document that floated three different options – a licensing system, restrictive tariffs, or a ban – an unnamed EU diplomat and European official said, Reuters reported.

The EU has long struggled to make major decisions on Middle East policy due to deep and long-standing divisions among its 27 member states, particularly over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Diplomats said the debate at a meeting in Brussels on Monday was not expected to produce concrete decisions, but would help determine whether there is enough support to move forward.

Are illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank expanding?

Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967. More than 500,000 Israelis live in the area, excluding east Jerusalem, among the nearly three million Palestinians.

This month, Israel’s defense minister approved a plan to launch 13 new villages in the central West Bank.

Number of new villages it has recently increasedaccording to new data from the Palestinian Forum for Israel Studies (MADAR). After doing about eight episodes a year between 2012 and 2022, this number rose to 32 in 2023, then 62 in 2024, to 86 in 2025.

Nasser Khdour, Middle East research assistant at the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED), said that 2026 is the deadliest year for hostilities since ACLED began tracking events in Palestine a decade ago.

“Incidents have included attacks on Palestinians, destruction of property, damage to agricultural equipment and materials, uprooting of trees, and grazing on Palestinian agricultural land. Some incidents have been deadly, including the theft of equipment, sheep, and crops,” Khdour was quoted on the ACLED website in May.

What challenges did the EU face to act on this?

Under pressure from the EU as a whole, the bloc’s leader last week proposed measures to limit trade and housing, including a ban.

“There have been many requests and requests from member states regarding the prohibition of trade with illegal properties,” said Kallas.

“Let’s see if the decisions that have been made now can put pressure on the member states.”

Belgium’s Foreign Minister Maxime Prevot said the decisions made seemed more like “biting a bone than a real will to move forward”.

“We need real ideas,” he said.

There is disagreement in Brussels over whether the move would require the support of all 27 member states or a rich majority.

Ambassadors say key players Germany and Italy are still uncertain about travel.

What is the role of the EU so far?

Several EU countries – including Spain, the Netherlands, and the Republic of Ireland – have already suspended their trade restrictions on Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories, which are considered illegal under international law.

In May, the EU imposed sanctions on four organizations and three individuals for what it said were human rights violations against Palestinians in the West Bank.

In a July 2024 advisory opinion, the International Court of Justice said that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories and settlements in the West Bank is illegal and states must take action to stop trade or investment that contributes to the situation.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar last year described the push by other European governments to implement the recommendations as “shameful”.