Eight Muslim nations warn Israel against West Bank annexation push

ISLAMABAD: Eight Muslim countries, including Pakistan, issued a joint statement on Monday warning against what they described as Israel’s “continued expansionist policies” in the occupied West Bank, condemning recent Israeli steps that they say pave the way for illegal annexation and displacement of Palestinians.

The statement, endorsed by the foreign ministers of Pakistan, Egypt, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Indonesia, Türkiye, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar, strongly denounced what it called unlawful Israeli measures aimed at imposing sovereignty, expanding settlements, and creating a new legal and administrative reality in the occupied territory.

The warning came a day after Israel’s security cabinet approved measures that, according to Israeli media, would ease restrictions on settlers purchasing land in the West Bank while granting Israeli authorities broader enforcement powers over Palestinians. Reports by Ynet and Haaretz cited Israeli officials as saying that decades-old regulations barring Jewish private citizens from buying land in the territory would be scrapped.

Reaffirming that “Israel has no sovereignty over the occupied Palestinian territory,” the eight ministers cautioned that such policies fuel violence and instability across the region. They said Israel’s actions constituted a “blatant violation of international law,” undermined the two-state solution and amounted to an assault on the Palestinian people’s inalienable right to an independent and sovereign state.

The ministers declared Israel’s measures “null and void,” stressing that they violate United Nations Security Council Resolution 2334, which condemns attempts to alter the demographic composition and status of territories occupied since 1967. They also recalled the 2024 advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice, which found Israel’s continued presence and policies in the occupied Palestinian territory to be illegal and called for an end to the occupation.

Calling on the international community to fulfil its legal and moral responsibilities, the ministers urged concrete action to compel Israel to halt what they termed a dangerous escalation in the West Bank and inflammatory statements by Israeli officials. They reiterated that Palestinian self-determination and statehood, based on the two-state solution and the Arab Peace Initiative, remained the only viable path to lasting peace and regional stability.

The statement also noted that the same eight countries had engaged with the administration of US President Donald Trump last year on efforts to end Israel’s war in Gaza. Earlier this month, they similarly condemned repeated Israeli violations of the Gaza ceasefire, warning that such actions threatened broader efforts to restore stability and advance the next phase of the peace plan.

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