More than 100 countries and organisations, including Ireland, have issued a statement expressing opposition to Israeli moves extending control over the occupied West Bank.
The statement reads in part: “We strongly condemn Israel’s unilateral decisions and actions aimed at expanding Israel’s illegal presence in the West Bank.” The signatory countries emphasised their opposition “to any form of annexation” and stated that the measures taken by Israel are contrary to international law. Among the signatories are countries considered friendly to Israel, including Germany, India, Greece and Cyprus.
The statement was issued after Israel approved a series of initiatives backed by far-right ministers to consolidate control over the disputed territory, where Palestinians exercise limited autonomy under past agreements.
Under the new measures settlers will be allowed to buy land directly from Palestinians, authority for construction in the flashpoint city of Hebron will be transferred from the Palestinian Authority to Israel, and Israeli control over two major religious sites in the southern West Bank will be reinforced: Rachel’s Tomb near Bethlehem and the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron.
READ MORE
United Nations under-secretary general Rosemary DiCarlo told the UN security council that the world is witnessing the gradual de facto annexation of the West Bank as unilateral Israeli steps transform the landscape.
Israeli foreign minister Gideon Sa’ar acknowledged that many countries claim the Jewish presence in what many Israelis see as their ancient homeland violates international law, but said no other nation has a stronger historical and documented right to what he called the land of the Bible.
Palestinian ambassador to the UN Riyad Mansour described the Israeli measures as “fundamentally racist” and emanating from a “colonial narrative”.
The driving force behind the new Israeli measures is finance minister Bezalel Smotrich, the leader of the far-right Religious Zionist party, himself a West Bank settler.
On Tuesday he said he would work in his next term to “encourage migration” of Palestinians from the West Bank. The next government, he said, should do away with the 1990s-era Oslo peace accords and extend Israeli sovereignty to the West Bank.
[ Israel criticised over expansion of powers in West BankOpens in new window ]
“Destroy the idea of an Arab terror state; finally, formally and practically cancel the cursed Oslo accords and get on the path of sovereignty, while encouraging migration both from Gaza and from Judea and Samaria,” he said, using the biblical term for the West Bank. “There is no other long-term solution.”
Excluding Israeli-annexed East Jerusalem, more than 500,000 Israelis live in West Bank settlements and outposts, which are illegal under international law. Palestinians seek to establish an independent state in the West Bank and Gaza, with East Jerusalem as its capital. The religious right in Israel believe the land was promised by God exclusively to the Jews.
