SriLanka, Sept. 9 -- A sharp diplomatic rift has erupted between Israel and several of its key Western partners after 12 countries backed restrictions on trade with Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank and London accused settlers of carrying out "ethnic cleansing" of Palestinians in parts of the territory.

The UK, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Iceland, Ireland, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, and Sweden issued a joint statement on Tuesday pledging to introduce, support, or consider restrictions on settlement goods, citing "unprecedented levels of settler violence and settlement expansion."

London, Paris, and Ottawa specifically committed to national trade bans, while the group demanded that Israel "immediately halt" settle...