The British Co-operative Group has become the first major European supermarket group to end trade with firms that export produce from Israeli settlements in the West Bank. The Co-op took the measure as an extension of its existing policy which had been not to import produce from Jewish settlements. The decision will affect four companies and contracts worth some £350,000. However, the Co-op stressed this is not an Israeli boycott and that its contracts will go to other companies inside Israel that can guarantee they don't export from "illegal" settlements.