Eight Muslim-majority countries issued a joint condemnation Tuesday of Israel’s decision to designate large areas of the occupied West Bank as “state land.”
The group warned that the move violates international law, accelerates settlement expansion and further undermines prospects for a two-state solution.
In a statement released by Türkiye’s Foreign Ministry, the top diplomats of Türkiye, Egypt, Jordan, Indonesia, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) criticized Israel’s approval of new procedures to register and settle land ownership across extensive parts of the occupied West Bank, the first such measure since 1967.
The ministers said the decision, approved by the Israeli government over the weekend, makes it easier for Israeli settlers to purchase land and transfers additional administrative authority in the territory to Israeli civil bodies. They described the step as illegal and warned it would hasten land confiscation and settlement growth.
“This illegal step constitutes a grave escalation aimed at accelerating illegal settlement activity, land confiscation, entrenching Israeli control, and applying unlawful Israeli sovereignty over the Occupied Palestinian Territory,” the joint statement said.
The countries argued the move breaches international humanitarian law, including the 4th Geneva Convention, and violates multiple U.N. Security Council resolutions, “foremost among them Resolution 2334,” which calls on Israel to halt settlement activity in occupied territory.
The statement also cited an advisory opinion by the International Court of Justice, saying the new registration measures contradict findings that policies altering the legal, historical and demographic status of occupied land are unlawful.
According to the ministers, the decision appears designed to impose “a new legal and administrative reality” in the West Bank, threatening the viability of a two-state solution and increasing the risk of wider regional instability.
They said the policy erodes the prospects for an independent Palestinian state and jeopardizes chances for a just and comprehensive peace.
Reaffirming their rejection of unilateral actions, the eight countries urged the international community to take “clear and decisive steps” to halt violations and protect Palestinian rights, including self-determination and the establishment of an independent state along the June 4, 1967, lines, with East Jerusalem as its capital.
The Israeli government had yet to publicly respond to the statement.
