Arab and Muslim countries have condemned in the strongest terms Israel’s plan to annex the occupied West Bank and impose its sovereignty on it.
Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Indonesia, Pakistan, TÜrkiye, Djibouti, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Kuwait, Libya, Malaysia, Egypt, Nigeria, and Gambia – along with the Arab League and the Organisation of Islamic Co-operation (OIC) – strongly condemned the Israeli Knesset’s approval of two draft laws aimed at imposing what is called “Israeli sovereignty” over the occupied West Bank and the illegal Israeli colonial settlements. They stressed that the annexation of the West Bank is a red line.
In a joint statement issued yesterday, the Arab and Muslim countries affirmed that this vote represents a blatant violation of international law and the United Nations Security Council resolutions – particularly Resolution 2334, which condemns all Israeli measures aimed at altering the demographic composition, character, and legal status of the occupied Palestinian territories since 1967, including East Jerusalem.
The statement also cited the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which confirmed the illegality of the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories and declared all settlement-building and annexation measures in the occupied West Bank null and void.
These countries also welcomed the advisory opinion issued by ICJ on Wednesday regarding Israel’s obligations in the occupied Palestinian territories. The opinion reaffirmed Israel’s duty under the international humanitarian law to ensure that people in the occupied Palestinian territories – including the Gaza Strip – have access to the basic necessities of daily life. It also underlined the importance to facilitate all possible relief efforts for the population through the United Nations and its agencies, particularly the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).
The Arab and Muslim countries warned against Israel’s ongoing unilateral and illegal policies and practices, calling on the international community to assume its legal and moral responsibilities to deter Israel and fulfil the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people to establish their independent state.
US President Donald Trump yesterday dismissed an effort by some Israeli legislators to annex the West Bank, saying Israel is “not going to do anything with the West Bank.”
“Don’t worry about the West Bank,” Trump told reporters at the White House. “Israel is not going to do anything with the West Bank.”
US Vice President JD Vance said yesterday that Trump would oppose Israeli annexation of the occupied West Bank and it would not happen, suggesting a move by Israeli legislators toward that end looked like a stupid “political stunt”.
Asked by reporters about the Knesset vote, Vance said: “If it was a political stunt, it is a very stupid one, and I personally take some insult to it.”
Vance spoke after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned that steps toward annexing the territory could endanger Trump’s plan to end the Gaza war, which has yielded a shaky ceasefire so far. The two were part of a parade of senior US officials who flew to Israel this week.
“The West Bank is not going to be annexed by Israel. The policy of President Trump is that the West Bank will not be annexed. This will always be our policy,” Vance said at the end of a two-day visit to Israel.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said the vote was a “deliberate political provocation” that aimed to sow division during Vance’s visit.
Netanyahu’s Likud party did not vote for the bill, it said, adding that without its support, attempts to legislate the annexation of the West Bank were “unlikely to go anywhere”.
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