Bahrain has joined a group of Arab and international countries in condemning the Israeli parliament’s approval of a declaration calling for the imposition of ‘so-called Israeli sovereignty’ over the occupied West Bank.
The joint statement was issued yesterday by the kingdom along with Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Indonesia, Jordan, Nigeria, Palestine, Qatar, Türkiye, the UAE, the Arab League and the Organisation of Islamic Co-operation.
The parties consider this move a ‘blatant and unacceptable violation of international law, and a flagrant breach of relevant UN Security Council resolutions’, according to a statement which was shared by the Bahrain News Agency.
“The above-mentioned parties reaffirm that Israel has no sovereignty over the Occupied Palestinian Territory, stressing that this unilateral Israeli move has no legal effect and cannot alter the legal status on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, foremost among it East Jerusalem.”
They also emphasised that such Israeli actions ‘only fuel the growing tension in the region, which has been exacerbated by the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip and the resulting humanitarian catastrophe in the Strip’.
The countries called on the international community, including the United Nations Security Council, to shoulder their legal and moral responsibilities, and to act to halt Israel’s illegal policies ‘aimed at imposing a fait accompli by force, undermining the prospects for a just and lasting peace, and the prospects of the two-state solution’.
They also reaffirmed their commitment to the two-state solution based on international legitimacy and the Arab Peace Initiative, and to the realisation of an independent, sovereign Palestinian state on the June 4, 1967 lines, with East Jerusalem as its capital.
More than 70 Israeli legislators passed a motion on Wednesday urging the government to impose sovereignty over the West Bank, though the symbolic move does not affect the Palestinian territory’s legal status.
The non-binding vote in Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, was backed by members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing coalition, as well as some opposition legislators.
The Israeli MPs claimed that annexing the West Bank ‘will strengthen the state of Israel, its security and prevent any questioning of the fundamental right of the Jewish people to peace and security in their homeland’.
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