UNITED NATIONS, Feb 18 (APP): Ahead of Wednesday afternoon’s United Nations Security Council meeting, more than 80 UN member states, including Pakistan, have condemned Israel’s plan to expand control over the occupied West Bank and claim large tracts of Palestinian territory as Israeli “state property”.
“We strongly condemn unilateral Israeli decisions and measures aimed at expanding Israel’s unlawful presence in the West Bank,” Palestinian Ambassador to the UN Riyad Mansour said on Tuesday, speaking on behalf of the coalition of 85 member states and several international organizations.
The new steps, which critics say amount to de facto annexation, include the legalization of outposts, expansion of Israeli settlements, authorization for direct land purchases by settlers, and the removal of oversight on such transactions.
Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmad, the Pakistani permanent representative to the UN, represented Pakistan at the media stake-out where the Palestinian envoy read out the statement.
“Such decisions are contrary to Israel’s obligations under international law and must be immediately reversed. We underline in this regard our strong opposition to any form of annexation,” Mansour, the Palestinian envoy, said.
“We reiterate our rejection of all measures aimed at altering the demographic composition, character and status of the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, including East Jerusalem,” he said.
“Such measures violate international law, undermine the ongoing efforts for peace and stability in the region, run counter to the Comprehensive Plan and jeopardize the prospect of reaching a peace agreement ending the conflict,” he added.
The Comprehensive Plan to End the Gaza Conflict is a November agreement between Israel and Hamas to end the genocidal war.
Signatories to the joint statement on Tuesday also include Australia, Canada, China, France, Russia, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Turkiye, the United Arab Emirates, the European Union, the League of Arab States (AL) and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).
The joint statement follows Israel’s decision to implement land registration in Area C of the West Bank for the first time since 1967, when Israel began its occupation of Palestinian territory.
Area C makes up about 60 percent of the West Bank’s territory, according to the illegal settlement monitoring organisation Peace Now.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, earlier this week, warned that Israel’s land registration plan could lead to the “dispossession of Palestinians of their property and risks expanding Israeli control over land in the area”.
Guterres warned that the process could be both “destabilising” and unlawful, citing a landmark 2024 ruling by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) that stated Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and Gaza is unlawful and must end.
Israel’s “abuse of its status as the occupying power” renders its “presence in the occupied Palestinian territory unlawful”, the ICJ said in its ruling.
“Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and the regime associated with them, have been established and are being maintained in violation of international law,” the court added.
According to the ICJ, approximately 465,000 Israeli settlers live in the occupied West Bank, spread across some 300 settlements and outposts, which are illegal under international law.
“We reiterate that a just and lasting peace on the basis of the relevant UN resolutions, the Madrid terms of reference, including the principle of land for peace, and the Arab Peace Initiative, ending the Israeli occupation that began in 1967 and implementing the two-state solution — where two democratic states, an independent and sovereign Palestine and Israel, live side by side in peace and security within their secure and recognized borders on the basis of the 1967 lines, including with regard to Jerusalem — remains the only path to ensure security and stability in the region,” the statement by 85 member states added.
The Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, Senator Ishaq Dar, who arrived in New York on Tuesday afternoon, will lead the Pakistan delegation to the 15-member Council’s meeting on the subject and deliver the national statement.
