The UK government is working on a ban on imports and exports to illegal Israeli settlements, the trade minister confirmed on Wednesday morning.

Both services and goods will be prohibited from flowing to and from the outposts, Sir Chris Bryant told MPs of the Business and Trade Committee.

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Israeli settlements, in areas like the West Bank, have long been opposed by the UK government, which believes them to be a breach of international law and a threat to a two-state solution between Israel and Palestine.

The government had said it was reviewing all options but had stopped short of endorsing a ban.

But on Wednesday Mr Bryant said there was a “very strong” moral and legal argument for such a prohibition.

He confirmed the Department for Business and Trade and the Foreign Office were working on a comprehensive ban, adding, “we’ve been doing the work on precisely how this would work”.

Mr Bryant was keen for the embargo to cover services trade.

In particular, he was concerned about companies in the UK possibly providing mortgages for people building in the illegal settlements, acting as estate agents for properties there, or providing accountancy or legal services to the areas.

When will a ban come?

The difficulty, Mr Bryant said, was in creating a workable ban.

When one can be introduced depends on what laws are used.

If the current sanctions regime can be utilised, Mr Bryant said it would be “better” than having to rely on new legislation, which “could take some considerable period of time and might get delayed”.

“We’re trying to work in granular detail on what this would look like, and it could be that the sanctions legislation is the legal basis for the ban.”

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Admitted obstacles

A further obstacle acknowledged by trade minister Mr Bryant was the difficulty in identifying and tracking where goods come from.

Items from settlements can “often” be labelled as a product of Israel, he said, when “they’ve obviously, clearly actually come from the settlement areas”.

“We all know perfectly well that it’s very difficult to enforce [customs rules] because [Palestinian] territories and the settlement areas and, and the rest of Israel… goods travel in and out very easily, both heavy machinery and foodstuffs and so on”.

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Israeli settlers rampage through Palestinian villages in the West Bank

What are Israeli settlements?

A settlement is an Israeli-built village, town, or city in occupied Palestinian territory – either in the West Bank or East Jerusalem.

Creating settlements can involve confiscating land and displacing Palestinians, which is illegal under the Geneva Convention, as is the moving of Israeli civilians into territory Israel occupies.

Israel disputes this, saying it cannot be classed as an occupying power, as no country owned the land before it took the territory in 1967, and it has not transferred its population to the territories; people move freely.

Contrary to the UN, Israel officially recognises and administers some settlements.