ISLAMABAD: The foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Indonesia, Pakistan, Egypt and Türkiye have strongly condemned Israel’s decision to designate lands in the occupied West Bank as so-called “state land” and approve procedures for registering land ownership across wide areas for the first time since 1967.
In a joint statement, the ministers described the move as an illegal and grave escalation aimed at accelerating settlement expansion, land confiscation and entrenching Israeli control over the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
They said the decision represents a flagrant violation of international law and international humanitarian law, particularly the Fourth Geneva Convention, and breaches key United Nations Security Council resolutions, including Resolution 2334.
The ministers also noted that the step contradicts the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice, which underscored the illegality of measures intended to alter the legal, historical and demographic status of the occupied territories, and reaffirmed the obligation to end the occupation and the prohibition of acquiring territory by force.
According to the statement, the designation reflects an attempt to impose a new legal and administrative reality that would consolidate control over occupied land, undermining the prospects for an independent and viable Palestinian state.
The ministers reiterated their categorical rejection of all unilateral actions aimed at changing the legal, demographic and historical status of the Occupied Palestinian Territory, warning that such policies risk further escalating tensions and instability across the region.
They urged the international community to take clear and decisive steps to halt these violations, ensure respect for international law and safeguard the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people, including their right to self-determination and the establishment of an independent sovereign state along the 4 June 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital.