LONDON - Britain is to warn its citizens of the risks of buying property situated in Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories, the Foreign Office in London said Friday.
Britain has urged Israel to freeze settlement activity in the occupied territories, warning that it threatens the creation of an independent and viable Palestinian state.
"We've always been clear that we oppose settlements and they are illegal," a Foreign Office spokeswoman said, noting that the ministry would amend the travel advice on its website next week.
"The proposed changes to travel advice are in line with this. We will be updating our travel advice to make people aware that there are risks involved with purchasing property in Israeli settlements on land considered to be occupied under international law.
"Potential purchasers should be aware that a future peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians, or between Israel and Syria, could have consequences for property they purchase in these settlements."
She said that officials were working on a draft, and updated travel advice would be published early next week. No figures were available on Britons who might already own property in the settlements.
The international community regards all West Bank settlements as illegal, and the Palestinians say continued settlement construction is a major hurdle in the US-backed peace process.
More than 260,000 Israelis are estimated to live in government-authorised settlements across the occupied West Bank, with another 200,000 in settlements in annexed east Jerusalem.
A spokesman for the Israeli embassy, cited by the Guardian daily -- which reported the imminent change of Foreign Office travel advice -- lamented the decision.
"If this is true it is highly disappointing in the light of the successful visit paid by Prime Minister (Ehud) Olmert to the UK," he said, referring to the interim Israeli leader's trip to London this week.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Olmert held "frank and detailed discussion of the measures Israel is willing to take to advance the peace process with the Palestinians," the embassy spokesman added.
Asked about the change in travel advice, Brown said observers had to "stand back from the settlements issue, where there will be changes if there is an agreement between Palestine and Israel, and look at the main issues that can actually be resolved in the next few months."
"The more I travel, the more I realise that for a proper peace and stability in that region ... it is necessary that we move further and faster towards a Palestinian-Israeli settlement," he said at his monthly press conference.