ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and seven Arab and Muslim states on Monday jointly condemned recent Israeli decisions to impose new legal and administrative measures in the occupied West Bank, saying they amount to an attempt to enforce unlawful sovereignty and accelerate annexation of Palestinian territory.
The West Bank is among the territories that the Palestinians seek for a future independent state. Much of it is under Israeli military control, with limited Palestinian self-rule in some areas run by the Western-backed Palestinian Authority (PA).
Israel’s security cabinet approved a series of steps on Sunday that would make it easier for settlers in the occupied West Bank to buy land while granting Israeli authorities more enforcement powers over Palestinians. The measures reportedly include scrapping decades-old regulations that prevent Jewish private citizens buying land in the West Bank. They are also reported to include allowing Israeli authorities to administer some religious sites, and expand supervision and enforcement in areas under PA administration in matters of environmental hazards, water offenses and damage to archaeological sites.
In a joint statement issued in Islamabad, the foreign ministries of Pakistan, Egypt, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Indonesia, Türkiye, Saudi Arabia and Qatar said Israel had no sovereignty over the occupied Palestinian territory and accused it of pursuing measures aimed at entrenching settlement activity and imposing a new legal and administrative reality on the ground.
