A White House official reiterated on Monday that President Donald Trump opposes Israel’s annexation of the occupied West Bank.
The official said that “stability in the West Bank preserves Israel’s security and is consistent with the administration’s goal of achieving peace in the region.”
On Sunday, Israel’s security cabinet approved a series of decisions proposed by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and Defense Minister Israel Katz that would lead to a fundamental change in the legal and civil reality in the occupied West Bank.
The European Union had condemned the recent decisions taken by the Israeli security cabinet to expand Israeli control over the West Bank, saying the steps “represent another move in the wrong direction,” at a time when the international community is working to implement the second phase of the comprehensive plan for the Gaza Strip.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres also expressed deep concern over reports of the Israeli security cabinet’s decision to allow a series of administrative and executive measures in Areas “A” and “B” of the occupied West Bank. He warned that the current trajectory on the ground, including this decision, undermines the prospects for a two-state solution.
The foreign ministers of Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Indonesia, Pakistan, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Egypt strongly condemned the illegal Israeli decisions and measures aimed at imposing unlawful Israeli sovereignty, entrenching settlement expansion, and establishing a new legal and administrative reality in the occupied West Bank, accelerating attempts at its illegal annexation and the displacement of the Palestinian people. They reaffirmed that Israel has no sovereignty over the occupied Palestinian territory.
In a joint statement, the ministers warned that Israel’s continued expansionist policies and illegal measures in the occupied West Bank fuel violence and conflict in the region.
They expressed their absolute rejection of these illegal actions, which constitute a flagrant violation of international law, undermine the two-state solution, and represent an assault on the inalienable right of the Palestinian people to establish their independent, sovereign state on the lines of June 4, 1967, with occupied Jerusalem as its capital. These measures also undermine ongoing efforts to achieve peace and stability in the region.
The ministers stressed that these illegal measures in the occupied West Bank are null and void and constitute a clear violation of UN Security Council resolutions, particularly Resolution 2334, which condemns all Israeli measures aimed at altering the demographic composition, character, and status of the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, including East Jerusalem. They also cited the 2024 advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice, which concluded that Israel’s policies and practices in the occupied Palestinian territory and its continued presence there are unlawful, and affirmed the need to end the Israeli occupation and the nullity of the annexation of occupied Palestinian land.
— Reuters
