UK awards 15m in contracts to settlement-linked firms
New public sector deals were signed after the government announced new powers to sanction companies profiting from West Bank settlement activity.
By Aiko Nakamura ·
The British government has pledged to penalize businesses that profit from illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank, yet it recently awarded millions of pounds in public contracts to firms with ties to those settlements. These new deals were published after the UK announced new powers to sanction such companies.
The new authority was introduced on September 8. Before that date, the government had not had the specific legal tools to target these businesses under the new regime. The timing of the contract awards suggests a lag between the policy announcement and the procurement decisions made by various public bodies.
A review of procurement records and corporate filings shows that companies named by the United Nations for their involvement in settlement activity have secured work across the British public sector. This includes subsidiaries owned or controlled by those major international firms. The analysis found that these businesses appear to be in breach of their legal obligations under international humanitarian law, according to Neve Gordon, a law professor at Queen Mary University of London.
Gordon noted that any UK company involved in the occupation is likely in direct breach of the sanctions regime being put in place by Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband. Miliband told the House of Commons on September 8 that the government would take action against companies providing services like construction, infrastructure, financing, or real estate for settlement expansion. He stated that those who finance or facilitate illegal settlements would face the full force of UK sanctions.
Despite this statement, UK public bodies have published details of an additional 18 contracts with companies linked to illegal settlements since the announcement. These new awards total 10.7 million pounds, or 14.4 million dollars. This follows a previous investigation in August that found at least 17 linked companies had been awarded UK public sector contracts worth more than 2.1 billion pounds.
One of the largest recent winners is Heidelberg Materials, a German building materials firm. The United Nations listed Heidelberg in its September 2026 settlement index update for the commercial use of natural resources in the occupied Palestinian territory. Three of its subsidiaries were named in 14 new contracts worth 10.4 million pounds. These contracts are mostly for roadworks and resurfacing for National Highways and councils in Nottingham and Lincolnshire.
The group has been granted at least 35 UK contracts worth about 194.7 million pounds across five of its subsidiaries. Its Israeli subsidiary, Hanson Israel, owns the Nahal Raba quarry south of Qalqilya in the West Bank. The quarry sits on land belonging to the Palestinian villages of az-Zawiya and Rafat. A planning notice shows a proposal was approved to expand the site. Who Profits, a research group, said approval for the expansion was granted on May 28, 2025. Heidelberg stated it ceased operations at the quarry in 2023 but did not dispute the recent expansion approval.
Motorola Solutions, which provides security equipment and services, holds the largest share of identified contract value. The company and its subsidiaries recently won two contracts worth about 87,900 pounds for police communications. Motorola Solutions UK holds a 1.562 billion pound extension from the Home Office to provide the secure communications network used by emergency services in England, Scotland, and Wales. The company also holds a 36.5 million pound Ministry of Defence contract for radios and accessories. The United Nations lists the firm for providing security equipment and services to settlements.
Other firms with new awards include Fosun International and Egis. Fosun, a Chinese conglomerate, owns Breas Medical, which secured a 98,000 pound contract with Hull hospitals. This brings the group's total UK public sector contract value to at least 1.3 million pounds. Fosun is linked to the occupied West Bank through its ownership of the Israeli cosmetics manufacturer Ahava Dead Sea Laboratories. Egis, a French engineering group, holds a new 84,000 pound contract through its subsidiary Thomas & Adamson International Limited. This award brings the total value of public contracts held by Egis and its subsidiaries to at least 133.7 million pounds.
The Cabinet Office, which oversees procurement policy, told Al Jazeera that individual public authorities make decisions to exclude suppliers on a case-by-case basis. The office said that public procurement in the UK should not be used to boycott suppliers linked to other countries unless formal British sanctions, embargoes, or restrictions are in place. The department did not respond to further questions about the specific contracts awarded after the new sanctions powers were announced.
