The foreign ministers of Egypt, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Indonesia, Pakistan, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar strongly condemned Israel’s decision to designate lands in the occupied West Bank as “state land” and approve procedures for registering and settling land ownership across large areas of the territory for the first time since 1967.
In a joint statement released on Tuesday, the ministers said the move constitutes “a grave escalation” aimed at accelerating illegal settlement activity, land confiscation, entrenching Israeli control, and applying unlawful Israeli sovereignty over the Occupied Palestinian Territory, while undermining the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people.
They affirmed that the measures represent “a flagrant violation” of international law and international humanitarian law, particularly the Fourth Geneva Convention, as well as relevant United Nations Security Council resolutions, foremost among them Resolution 2334.
The foreign ministers further stressed that the decision contradicts the advisory opinion issued by the International Court of Justice concerning the legal consequences arising from Israeli policies and practices in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
That opinion, they noted, underscored the illegality of measures intended to alter the territory’s legal, historical, and demographic status, the obligation to end the occupation, and the prohibition on acquiring territory by force.
According to the statement, the step reflects an attempt to impose a new legal and administrative reality to consolidate control over occupied land, thereby undermining the two-state solution, eroding prospects for the establishment of an independent and viable Palestinian state, and jeopardizing efforts to achieve a just and comprehensive peace in the region.
The ministers reiterated their strong rejection of all unilateral measures that alter the legal, demographic, and historical status of the Occupied Palestinian Territory, warning that such policies will increase tensions and instability in the territory and the wider region.
They called on the international community to act decisively to halt these violations, ensure respect for international law, and protect the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people, including their right to self-determination, the end of the occupation, and the establishment of an independent state along the lines of 4 June 1967, with East Jerusalem as its capital.
Last week, Israel’s security cabinet approved a series of measures to tighten control over areas of the West Bank administered by the Palestinian Authority under the Oslo Accords, in place since the 1990s.
These measures, which also sparked international backlash, include allowing Jewish Israelis to buy West Bank land directly and allowing Israeli authorities to administer certain religious sites in areas under the Palestinian Authority’s control.
The latest Israeli actions come amid rising attacks by Israeli settlers against Palestinians in the territory.
Excluding Israeli-occupied East Jerusalem, more than 500,000 Israelis live in West Bank settlements and outposts, which are illegal under international law..Around three million Palestinians live in the territory, which Israel has occupied since 1967.
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