What is the EU’s plan to cut trade with illegal Israeli settlements?

EXPLAINERA meeting of EU foreign ministers comes just months after the European Union imposed sanctions on Israel over settlement construction in the occupied West Bank.European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, centre, poses with health advocates Jorg M Fegert and Maria Melchior at European Union headquarters in Brussels, Belgium on Monday, July 13, 2026 [Marius Burgelman/AP]Published On 13 Jul 2026European Union foreign ministers met in Brussels on Monday to discuss whether there is enough support for new measures to curb trade with Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.“Everybody agrees that the situation in the West Bank is really intolerable,” EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said at the start of a meeting.“What is happening in the West Bank is actually making it more and more impossible that the two-state solution ever can come into effect.”Here is more about the ongoing EU discussions on Israeli settlements.What options are the EU foreign ministers discussing?The discussions are based on a confidential paper by the European Commission that floats three different options – an import licensing system, prohibitive tariffs, or a ban – an unnamed senior EU diplomat and a European official said, Reuters reported.The EU has long struggled to take major decisions on Middle East policy because of deep and long-standing divisions among its 27 member countries, particularly on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.Diplomats said the debate at a meeting in Brussels on Monday was not expected to yield any concrete decisions, but would help to sound out if there is enough support to move forward.Are Israel’s illegal settlements in the West Bank expanding?Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967. More than 500,000 Israeli settlers live in the territory, excluding east Jerusalem, among some three million Palestinians.This month, Israel’s Security Cabinet has approved a plan to establish 13 new settlements in the central occupied West Bank.The number of new settlements has soared recently, according to new data from the Palestinian Forum for Israeli Studies (MADAR). After averaging approximately eight outposts annually between 2012 and 2022, the number jumped to 32 in 2023, then 62 in 2024, reaching 86 during 2025.Nasser Khdour, Middle East assistant research manager at the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED), said that 2026 is the deadliest year for settler violence since ACLED began tracking incidents in Palestine a decade ago.“Incidents have included attacks on Palestinians, property destruction, damage to farming equipment and facilities, tree uprooting, and grazing on Palestinian agricultural land. Other incidents have involved looting, including the theft of equipment, sheep, and crops,” Khdour was quoted as saying on the ACLED website in May.What pressure has the EU faced to take measures about this?Under pressure for the EU as a whole to take measures, the bloc’s executive last week laid out options to curb trade with settlements, including a ban.“There have been a lot of asks and requests from the member states regarding the ban of the trade with illegal settlements,” Kallas said.“Let’s see if these options that have been provided now will have a stronger push from member states.”Belgium’s Foreign Minister Maxime Prevot said the options laid out appeared to be more “a bone to gnaw on than a genuine desire to move forward”.“We are calling for concrete proposals,” he said.There is disagreement in Brussels as to whether that move would need backing from all 27 member states or just a weighted majority.Diplomats say that key players Germany and Italy are still undecided on the move.What has the EU’s position been so far?Several EU countries – including Spain, the Netherlands, and the Republic of Ireland – have already imposed their own trade restrictions on Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories, considered illegal under international law.In May, the EU imposed sanctions on four entities and three individuals over what it described as serious and systematic human rights abuses against Palestinians in the West Bank.In a July 2024 advisory opinion, the International Court of Justice said Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories and settlements in the West Bank are illegal and that states should take steps to prevent trade or investment relations that help maintain the situation.Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar last year described a push by some European governments to implement the advisory opinion as “shameful”.