The foreign ministers of Turkey and seven other Muslim countries, including Egypt, Indonesia, Jordan, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) issued a joint statement on Israel‘s latest actions in the West Bank condemning the decision – described as illegal and contrary to international law – to extend its authority in the occupied Palestinian territory, warning that this step undermines stability and peace in the Middle East, especially in the current context of trying to implement the second phase of the Gaza peace agreement.
As reported by the Turkish news portal TRTHaber, in the statement the ministers of the 8 signatory countries “strongly condemn Israel’s illegal decisions and measures aimed at imposing sovereignty, entrenching settlement activity and creating a new legal and administrative reality, thus accelerating the displacement of the Palestinian people and steps towards an illegal annexation“, also reiterating that Israel has no sovereignty over the occupied Palestinian territories.
The statement warns that the “expansionist policies and illegal measures” pushed by the Netanyahu-led Israeli government in the occupied West Bank are fuelling violence and conflict in the region, adding that these actions, in flagrant violation of international law, undermine the two-state solution and attack the inalienable right of the Palestinian people to establish an independent and sovereign state with its capital in occupied Jerusalem, based on the borders of 4 June 1967.
“These actions also undermine ongoing efforts for peace and stability in the region,” continued the joint communiqué, in which the ministers of the 8 signatory countries stressed that “these illegal practices in the occupied West Bank are null and void and constitute a clear violation of all UN Security Council resolutions, in particular Resolution 2334, which condemns all Israeli practices aimed at altering the demographic composition, character and status of the occupied Palestinian territories, including East Jerusalem, since 1967, as well as the 2024 advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice in The Hague, which determined that Israel’s policies, practices and continued presence in the occupied Palestinian territories are illegal, and affirmed the need to end the Israeli occupation“.
Israel facilitates expansion of Jewish settlements in West Bank
Israel’s security cabinet approved yesterday measures aimed at deepening Israeli control over the occupied West Bank and weakening the already limited powers of the Palestinian Authority. The office of the far-right finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, announced in a statement that the decisions will make it easier for Jewish settlers to force Palestinians to give up land, adding that “we will continue to bury the idea of a Palestinian state“.
The measures announced on 8 February include cancelling the ban on the sale of West Bank land to Israeli Jews, declassifying property records to facilitate land acquisition, handing over to Israeli authorities the planning of construction at religious sites and other sensitive enclaves in the volatile city of Hebron, and allowing Israel to enforce environmental and archaeological regulations in Palestinian-administered areas. There are also plans to reactivate a committee that would allow Israel to make “proactive” purchases of land in the West Bank, “a step aimed at securing land reserves for settlements for generations“.
The announcement came just days before Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is due to meet US President Donald Trump in Washington to discuss Iran and other issues. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas reacted by calling the decision “dangerous” and an “open Israeli attempt to legalise settlement expansion” and land confiscation, and called on the US and the UN Security Council to intervene immediately. The militant group Hamas urged West Bank Palestinians to “intensify the confrontation with the occupation and its settlers”.
Half a million Israeli settlers live illegally on Palestinian land
Following Israel’s war on Gaza on 8 October 2023, Israeli military operations in the West Bank intensified: since then there has been an increase in deaths, arrests, forced displacement and expansion of Israeli settlements in the Palestinian territory. It is estimated that in this time, at least 1,112 Palestinians have been killed, around 11,500 injured and more than 21,000 detained in the West Bank.
Approximately 3 million Palestinians live under Israeli military rule in the West Bank, occupied by Israel since the 1967 Six-Day War. At the same time, more than 500,000 Israeli settlers live under Israeli law in 365 Jewish settlements built on Palestinian land, in blatant violation of international law. The new plans announced by Israel have been particularly welcomed by the far-right parties supporting Netanyahu’s government, especially those backed by settlers, who are demanding and pressuring the government for the full annexation of the West Bank.
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Edited and reviewed by:
Pablo Gómez is a specialist in Turkey and has been editor-in-chief of Hispanatolia since 2011. He has been analysing current affairs and geopolitics in Turkey and the surrounding region since 2006.
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