Nearly 20 countries including France denounce a strategy of “de facto annexation” of the West Bank by Israel

Nearly 20 countries, from Brazil to Saudi Arabia, including France and Spain, condemned on Monday “with the greatest firmness” the recent measures taken by Israel to strengthen its control over the West Bank.

“These latest decisions are part of a clear strategy aimed at changing the situation on the ground and continuing an unacceptable de facto annexation,” the foreign ministers of these states wrote in a joint statement.

“They also undermine efforts for peace and stability in the region, including the 20-Point Plan for Gaza, and threaten any prospect of meaningful regional integration. We call on the Israeli government to immediately reverse these decisions, to respect its international obligations and to refrain from any action likely to lastingly modify the legal and administrative status of the occupied Palestinian territory,” continue the ministers of the 20 countries.

Since the start of the month, Israel has taken a series of measures aimed at increasing its control over the West Bank, which it has occupied since 1967, including over areas placed under the control of the Palestinian Authority under the Israeli-Palestinian Oslo Accords, concluded in the 1990s and now moribund.