Israel is weighing the expulsion of British officials from the Civil Military Coordination Center in Kiryat Gat, the US led body overseeing Gaza operations, in response to a British trade measure that has not yet been announced. Foreign Minister Gideon Saar told his British counterpart Ed Miliband in a recent call that Israel cannot allow punitive measures to be taken against it without responding.
The dispute traces to Israel's E1 settlement project, which would connect Jerusalem and Maale Adumim and, in doing so, cut the territorial link between Bethlehem, East Jerusalem and Ramallah. Miliband called the plan unacceptable and destructive. British Prime Minister Andy Burnham is reportedly preparing to announce a complete trade ban on West Bank settlement goods, along with possible sanctions on far right Israeli ministers and settlers.
An unnamed British official said they would not be surprised by some form of payback for London's position, and Israeli sources indicated that measures more extreme than expulsion are also under consideration. Israel has denied separate reports that it was weighing the expulsion of Italian or German officials from the same center. Dutch representatives were already expelled on Tuesday over what Israel called anti Israel measures, so a British removal would extend rather than begin the pattern.
None of this changes what the coordination center in Kiryat Gat is meant to do, which is manage a war rather than a diplomatic dispute. What it shows is that the diplomatic dispute is now reaching into the room built to keep it out, six weeks before an Israeli election in which the settlement policy driving the fight is very much on the ballot.