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It’s not exactly “Britannia rules the waves” again, and foreign secretary Ed Miliband is no Curzon, but it was nice to see the UK leading a diplomatic protest against the Israeli plan to build yet more settlements on occupied Palestinian territory in the West Bank.

Post-Brexit, and having lost the leverage of both membership of the European Union and the US special relationship that Britain once enjoyed, the government is trying to find a new role – and it seems to be as an agent of change, a convenor of ad hoc coalitions to deal with crises as they emerge.

That was what Sir Keir Starmer achieved, with Emmanuel Macron, in building the “coalition of the willing” to resist Russian aggression in Ukraine. Now we have the more modest “coalition of the willing to sign a letter”, trying to put some pressure on Israel.

It’s not going to stop Benjamin Netanyahu, still less the extremist elements in his cabinet; but it might make others think twice about heading down the path of no return and ending the prospect of the only possible hope for peace and stability in the region: a viable, secure, prosperous and peaceful Palestinian nation.

Miliband seems to have led the effort for a joint statement on West Bank settlements, countersigned by the leaders of France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Canada and Norway. It is a clear statement: that the latest move by the Israeli government to render a two-state solution simply inoperable is unacceptable.

It signals to the Netanyahu government that the rest of the world knows full well that the E1 settlement project will sever part of the West Bank from East Jerusalem, the putative capital of an independent Palestine, and thus end the prospect of a sustainable peace for all the peoples of the wider region, and justice for the Palestinian people, whose suffering knows no end.

This, of course, follows the war crimes committed by Israeli forces in Gaza that have led to a charge of genocide at the International Court; and the continuing blind eye turned to Israeli settler invasions of Palestinian homes in the West Bank.

Though the signatories to the communique didn’t say it, Israel under its current rulers is turning into a rogue state.

What the seven Western governments, all traditionally supportive of Israel, said was about as stern as diplomacy allows: “The E1 settlement will undermine the prospect of the two-state solution by driving a wedge through the West Bank and harming the territorial contiguity of the Palestinian Territories. International law is clear that Israeli settlements in the West Bank are illegal. This is the position of the international community reaffirmed by the United Nations Security Council.”

Netanyahu, facing elections in October, won’t take much notice. Not so long ago, he repeated a “joke”, in poor taste, made by JD Vance after the election of the Labour government, that Britain would now be “the first truly Islamist country” to get a nuclear weapon. Offensive, even for him.

The Israeli PM has said repeatedly that he doesn’t actually want a peace settlement based on the two-state solution. He regards any Palestinian entity as a threat to Israel, and points to the events of October 7th 2023, among other terrorist atrocities, to make his case.

Netanyahu does not see that there will be no permanent peace and security for Israel without justice for the Palestinian people. His is a zero-sum worldview, in which it is actually in the Israeli interest to occupy Lebanon, be at war forever with Iran and where bombing Palestinians and stealing their homes is a normalised process.

Only America can make a difference to that, and, although Netanyahu has tested Donald Trump’s patience, and sometimes changed course under US demands, the broad strategy of Israeli dominance remains in place.

But that doesn’t mean the rest of the world just gives up and lets the IDF and the settlers get on with it.

Without US leadership, other willing nations have to fill that vacuum. The nations behind this initiative are an interesting group. There are three leading members of the EU – France, Germany and Italy – plus two more non-EU European states in the UK and Norway. All, especially Germany, have traditionally been supportive of Israel. The British are the former colonial power, and the Norwegians brokered numerous peace accords.

Together, they count for something – and the hope must be that the Israeli people, who are not all expansionist fanatics, listen to the argument and heed the advice of their friends.