The British government says it is suspending free trade negotiations with Israel and leveling new sanctions targeting West Bank settlers as it criticizes Israel’s military actions in Gaza.

A creeping Israeli presence is nothing new for the Bedouins who inhabit the arid hills east of Jerusalem, but a recently approved road in the area means the spectre of annexation now looms large. Israeli authorities in March green lit the construction of a separate route for Palestinian vehicles to bypass a central stretch of the occupied West Bank –- one of the territory's most disputed parcels of land.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry issued a fiery statement after the U.K. announced it was suspending free trade talks with Jerusalem and imposing new sanctions on the West Bank.