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.
