The British government has clarified that it does not consider the presence of Israeli Jews at the Western Wall or in Jerusalem's Jewish Quarter to be unlawful, despite the sites being located beyond the 1967 lines.
According to the British Jewish Chronicle (JC), the clarification followed questions regarding the implications of the government's position on Israeli-controlled territory beyond the Green Line.
British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband announced a ban on goods from communities in Judea and Samaria on Tuesday, while accepting an International Court of Justice (ICJ) advisory opinion which described Israel's occupation of territory captured from Jordan in 1967 as unlawful.
The British government's previous position had distinguished between Israeli communities, which it regarded as illegal, and Israel's control over the territories as a whole. It had also maintained that Jerusalem's status should ultimately be determined through negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
The government's adoption of the ICJ position raised questions as to whether it would consequently regard Israelis praying at the Western Wall or visiting and living in the Jewish Quarter as being unlawfully present.
A spokesperson for Britain's Foreign Office rejected that interpretation.
"The government will always protect religious freedoms - including the rights of Jews to pray at the Western Wall," the spokesperson told the JC.
"It is not the government's position that the presence of Israelis in Jerusalem, including the Jewish Quarter or at the Western Wall, is unlawful."
When announcing the trade restrictions, Miliband said the government believed its view regarding the legality of the occupation should also be expressed through its economic relations with the territories.
He also announced what he termed a new sanctions framework and said that it would include exemptions relating to religious matters.
The Western Wall and Jerusalem's Jewish Quarter are located beyond the Green Line and came under Israeli control during the 1967 Six-Day War, after previously being controlled by Jordan.
Israel formally applied its law to eastern Jerusalem in 1980, though numerous countries do not recognize Israeli sovereignty over the area.