Eight countries condemn Israel’s West Bank control measures
Saudi Arabia, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Indonesia, Pakistan, Egypt and Turkiye have condemned new Israeli measures to tighten control of the occupied West Bank and pave the way for more settlements, which are illegal under international law.
The countries “condemned in the strongest terms the illegal Israeli decisions and measures aimed at imposing unlawful Israeli sovereignty”, a Saudi Foreign Ministry statement said.
- The countries “condemned in the strongest terms the illegal Israeli decisions and measures aimed at imposing unlawful Israeli sovereignty, entrenching settlement activity, and enforcing a new legal and administrative reality in the occupied West Bank, thereby accelerating attempts at its illegal annexation and the displacement of the Palestinian people”.
- They “reaffirmed that Israel has no sovereignty over the occupied Palestinian territory”.
- The ministers “warned against the continued expansionist Israeli policies and illegal measures pursued by the Israeli government in the occupied West Bank, which fuel violence and conflict in the region”.
- They “expressed their absolute rejection of these illegal actions, which constitute a blatant violation of international law, undermine the two-state solution, and represent an assault on the inalienable right of the Palestinian people to realise their independent and sovereign state on the 4 June 1967 lines, with occupied Jerusalem as its capital. Such actions also undermine the ongoing efforts for peace and stability in the region.”
- The ministers “affirmed that these illegal measures in the occupied West Bank are null and void and constitute a clear violation of UN Security Council resolutions, particularly Resolution 2334, which condemns all Israeli measures aimed at altering the demographic composition, character, and status of the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, including East Jerusalem, as well as the 2024 advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice”.
‘Another step in the wrong direction’: EU on Israel’s West Bank control measures
We have a statement from the EU on Israel’s new measures to expand its control of the West Bank and pave the way for more illegal settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory.
“The European Union condemns recent decisions by Israel’s security cabinet to expand Israeli control in the West Bank,” EU spokesman Anouar El Anouni told journalists.
“This move is another step in the wrong direction.”
Israel’s new West Bank measures will ‘change the reality on the ground’
The decision by the Israeli government concerning the occupied West Bank is “going to be devastating”, says Muhammad Dahle, a human rights lawyer.
“They basically are actually annexing the West Bank … They’re allowing now Israeli citizens, normal Israeli citizens, to go and purchase land in the West Bank,” Dahle told Al Jazeera, speaking from occupied East Jerusalem.
Common citizens will soon be able to set up private settlement initiatives, whereas in the past, up until now and since 1967, an Israeli citizen needed to go through the lengthy process of setting up a company and obtaining a permit, the lawyer explained.
“Now, they want to change all of this process that has been in place for almost 60 years now, and they want to allow Israeli citizens to go into the so-called real estate market in the West Bank.”
A lot of these deals are also made using forged documents, he added.
“This is going to change the reality on the ground. But that’s not the only change, they are now also, you know, taking [power away] from the [Palestinian Authority] and giving it back to Israeli military commanders.”
