International outrage grew on Monday over Israeli plans to tighten the country’s grip on the occupied West Bank, with the United Nations chief saying he was “deeply concerned”.
Saudi Arabia and seven other Muslim-majority countries condemned the new Israeli measures, which pave the way for more settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories – considered illegal under international law.
Announced Sunday by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and Defense Minister Israel Katz after being approved by the Security Cabinet, they include allowing Jewish Israelis to directly purchase land in the West Bank, and expanding greater Israeli control over areas where the Palestinian Authority exercises power.
It was unclear when the new rules would come into effect, but no further approval is required.
U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres was “deeply concerned” by the changes and warned that they “damage the prospects for the two-state solution,” his spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said in a statement.
The West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967, would form the bulk of any future Palestinian state, but is seen by many on the religious right as Israeli land.
Smotrich had said on Sunday that the changes were aimed at “deepening our roots in all regions of the Land of Israel and burying the idea of a Palestinian state.”
Guterres called Israel’s actions “destabilizing” and pointed to the International Court of Justice’s ruling that the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territory is illegal.
The foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Indonesia, Pakistan, Egypt and Türkiye “condemned in the strongest terms the illegal Israeli decisions and measures aimed at imposing illegitimate Israeli sovereignty,” a Saudi statement said.
It called them an attempt to “entrench settlement activity and enforce a new legal and administrative reality in the occupied West Bank, accelerating attempts at illegal annexation and the displacement of the Palestinian people.”
The Australian government denounces the sanctions
During question time in parliament on Monday, independent MP Sophie Scamps asked the government whether it would impose sanctions on Israeli officials in light of plans to expand settlements in the West Bank.
Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles responded, saying: “The government has introduced sanctions against Israel that have been announced and well publicized.”
“But at the heart of that has fundamentally been a position by this administration, which is consistent with past administrations, from both political parties, to support a two-state solution.”
He said a two-state solution provides for the “legitimate aspirations of the Palestinian people to have their own state” while also ensuring security for Israel.
Last year, Australia was among a group of countries that did just that rebuked Smotrich and another Israeli minister, Itamar Ben-Gviraccusing them of “inciting violence against Palestinians in the West Bank.”
Australia was also one of 21 countries to do so condemned a controversial settlement expansion plan in the West Bank announced last year by Smotrich.
The Israeli measures also aim to transfer authority over construction permits for settlements in the Palestinian city of Hebron – the largest in the West Bank – from the Palestinian Authority to Israel.
In addition, the reform strengthens Israeli control over two key religious sites in the southern West Bank: Rachel’s Tomb near Bethlehem and the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron.
In addition to diplomatic criticism, the announcement drew condemnation from Palestinians and experts.
The Palestinian presidency in Ramallah, which exercises limited control over some parts of the West Bank, said the measure was aimed at “deepening efforts to annex the occupied West Bank.”
“What they want is to push the Palestinians into small pieces of land, basically their big cities, enclaves, and the rest is gone,” said Palestinian political scientist and former minister Ali Jarbawi.
The Israeli plan could weaken the Palestinian Authority
Yonatan Mizrachi of Peace Now, an Israeli anti-settlement watchdog, said the moves would further weaken the Palestinian Authority, which was established under the Oslo Accords of the 1990s as an interim governing body pending the creation of a full-fledged Palestinian state.
“Israel is actually in the process of annexation and that is something we have been seeing for three years, but what is also telling in this case is that Israel has also decided to weaken the Palestinian Authority,” Mizrachi said.
The announcement came days before Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to the United States, where he will meet with US President Donald Trump, who has supported US opposition to Israel’s annexation of the West Bank.
The US has yet to formally comment on the new measures.
More than 500,000 Israelis live in settlements and outposts in the West Bank that are illegal under international law.
About three million Palestinians live in the area. Another 200,000 Israelis live in Israeli-annexed East Jerusalem, which the UN says is part of the Palestinian territories.
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