Abu Dhabi, UAE – The UAE, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and other Arab and Islamic countries condemned on Monday Israel’s decisions to facilitate settlement expansion and increase its administrative and security powers in the occupied West Bank.
These steps were seen as moving toward the annexation of occupied Palestinian territory and undermining the prospects for peace.
Two Israeli ministers said the decisions, approved by the Security Cabinet on Sunday,
would facilitate the purchase of land in the West Bank by Jewish settlers.
Regional and international criticism
The decisions also grant Israeli authorities broader powers to act in areas supposedly under full Palestinian control. This has drawn a wave of regional and international criticism.
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, known for his extreme right-wing views, stated upon announcing
these decisions that the government “will continue to eliminate the idea of a Palestinian state.”
Observers considered this statement a confirmation of the annexation plans and a consolidation of the status quo.
In a joint statement, the foreign ministers of several Middle Eastern and other Islamic countries, including Egypt and Turkey, condemned these measures,
describing them as “a flagrant violation of international law, undermining the two-state solution,
and an attack on the inalienable right of the Palestinian people to establish their independent state.”
The statement also affirmed that the Israeli steps aim to entrench settlements in the West Bank and displace Palestinians.
Violation of international law
They also aim to impose Israeli sovereignty over the occupied territories, in clear violation of international law.
Annexing parts of the West Bank is a long-standing priority for the far-right parties in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.
Jordan, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, and Turkey all maintain formal diplomatic relations with Israel.
Saudi Arabia continues to refuse to establish relations with Israel until an independent Palestinian state is established.
The international community has supported the two-state solution for decades
as the most appropriate framework for ending the generations-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The West Bank, occupied by Israel since 1967, is considered the bulk of the territory of a future Palestinian state.
Therefore, recent Israeli decisions have been widely condemned regionally and internationally.
