Eight countries criticize Israel for its plan to register land as state property in the West Bank

A total of eight Arab and Muslim countries, including Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Qatar, condemned this Tuesday Israel’s approval of the designation of areas of the West Bank as “state property”, which they describe as “a serious escalation aimed at accelerating activity in illegal settlements.”

The signatory countries – which also include the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Indonesia, Jordan, Pakistan and Turkey – have highlighted that “this illegal step” also seeks to accelerate the “confiscation of land” and “increases Israeli control”, by “illegally applying Israeli sovereignty over the Occupied Palestinian Territories, undermining the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people.”

Thus, they have highlighted that “these measures represent a flagrant violation of International Law and International Humanitarian Law”, as well as “a violation of the relevant resolutions of the United Nations Security Council, mainly resolution 2234.”

“The decision also contradicts the opinion issued by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on the legal consequences of Israeli policies and practices in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, which underlined the illegality of measures aimed at altering the legal, historical or demographic status of the occupied Palestinian territory, the obligation to end the occupation and the prohibition of acquiring territory by force,” they recalled.

Along these lines, they have reiterated that “this step reflects an attempt to impose a new legal and administrative reality designed to consolidate control over the occupied lands, thus undermining the two-state solution, eroding the prospects for the establishment of an independent and viable Palestinian state and jeopardizing the achievement of a just and comprehensive peace in the region.”

The signatories have therefore insisted on their “categorical rejection of all unilateral measures aimed at altering the legal, demographic and historical status” of Palestine and have noted that “these policies represent a dangerous escalation that will further raise tensions and instability in the Occupied Palestinian Territories and in the region as a whole.”

For this reason, they have called on the international community to “assume its responsibilities and adopt clear and decisive steps to put an end to these violations, guarantee respect for International Law and safeguard the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people”, the main ones being “the right to self-determination, the end of the occupation and the establishment of its independent and sovereign State according to the borders of June 4, 1967, with East Jerusalem as its capital.”

The initiative was presented by the Minister of Finance and ultranationalist leader Bezalel Smotrich; Justice Minister Yariv Levin and Defense Minister Israel Katz, with the intention of regulating agricultural operations and clarifying the status of occupied areas in the Palestinian territories, a bureaucratic process whose complexity led Israel to abandon it decades ago.

In addition, it followed the decision of Israel’s security cabinet to approve a reform of the administration of the West Bank, expanding its powers in this part of Palestine. The measure involves aspects such as the assumption of powers over territory or construction licenses in the historic city of Hebron by the Israeli authorities, modifying a situation established in 1997 that provided that any new construction had to be approved by both Palestinian and Israeli institutions.