STATEMENT ON NEW MEASURES AGAINST THE ISRAELI OCCUPATION I welcome the joint statement of 8 September 2026 by the Foreign Ministers of twelve Western countries on measures against illegal Israeli settlements. I note in particular that Britain, Canada and France will bring forward measures to ban trade in settlement goods, joining several European countries that have already taken this step. I also recognise the significance of the statement by British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband to the House of Commons. The United Kingdom has now formally recognised the unlawfulness of the Israeli occupation as a whole. It has also acknowledged that ethnic cleansing of Palestinians is taking place in areas of the West Bank at the hands of what Mr Miliband rightly calls "settler terrorists". These are significant acknowledgements, grounded in international law and in the realities confronting the Palestinian people. These steps represent a welcome and overdue shift in the approach of several Western governments. They must now be matched by firm implementation. These governments should use their considerable diplomatic and economic leverage over Israel to press for an end to settlement expansion and forced displacement, accountability for the devastation inflicted on Gaza and unimpeded humanitarian access. The international community must move beyond statements towards concrete and binding measures that uphold international law, protect the rights of the Palestinian people and secure a just and lasting peace in the Middle East. ANWAR IBRAHIM(Anwar Ibrahim)