Türkiye, Islamic powers slam Israel over West Bank move

ANKARA

Türkiye and prominent Islamic powers have condemned Israel’s unlawful decision to expand its authority to the West Bank, urging that such a move will undermine stability and peace in the region, especially amid efforts to implement the second stage of the Gaza peace deal.

The joint statement was signed by the foreign ministers of Türkiye, Egypt, Jordan, Indonesia, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates and “condemned in the strongest terms the illegal Israeli decisions and measures aimed at imposing unlawful Israeli sovereignty, entrenching settlement activity and enforcing a new legal and administrative reality in the occupied West Bank.”

“They reaffirmed that Israel has no sovereignty over the occupied Palestinian territory,” the statement read.

The ministers warned against the continued expansionist Israeli policies and illegal measures pursued by the Israeli government in the occupied West Bank, which fuel violence and conflict in the region.

They expressed their absolute rejection of these illegal actions, which constitute a blatant violation of international law, undermine the two-state solution and represent an assault on the inalienable right of the Palestinian people to realize their independent and sovereign state on the June 4, 1967 lines, with occupied Jerusalem as its capital.

“Such actions also undermine the ongoing efforts for peace and stability in the region,” read the statement, which also said that Israel’s said measures “are null and void and constitute a clear violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions.”

They renewed their call on the international community to fulfill its legal and moral responsibilities and to compel Israel to halt its dangerous escalation in the occupied West Bank and the inciting statements of its officials.

“They stressed that the fulfillment of the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people to self-determination and statehood, based on the two-state solution in accordance with resolutions of international legitimacy and the Arab Peace Initiative, remains the only path to achieving just and comprehensive peace that ensures security and stability in the region,” the statement underlined.