Arabic version: تسع عشرة دولة تدين خطط تسجيل الأراضي الإسرائيلية في الضفة الغربية
Foreign ministers of 19 countries, including Turkiye, Qatar, France, and Brazil, have signed a joint statement condemning Israel’s moves to unlawfully extend and consolidate its control over Palestinian land. The Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs described Israel’s plans to begin land registration in the occupied West Bank, which will sanction the seizure of land from Palestinians who cannot prove ownership, as “de facto annexation”. According to Al Jazeera, the statement also highlighted concerns over Israel’s reclassification of Palestinian land as Israeli “state land”, which could facilitate the seizure of land from Palestinians lacking proof of ownership.
The joint statement warned that these changes could permanently alter the “legal and administrative status” of territory that is largely under Israeli military control, with limited Palestinian self-rule, but which would constitute part of a future Palestinian state. The ministers emphasized that these actions threaten the viability of a future Palestinian state and undermine the two-State Solution. They condemned any measures that could change the demographic and administrative status of the Palestinian territories, including East Jerusalem.
Signatories also called on Israel to end settler violence against Palestinians and pledged to take “concrete steps, in accordance with international law, to counter the expansion of illegal settlements in Palestinian territory and policies and threats of forcible displacement and annexation”. They underscored that Israeli settlements constitute “a flagrant violation of international law”, including previous United Nations Security Council resolutions and the 2024 Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which deemed Israel’s presence in the occupied Palestinian territory unlawful.
The ICJ has indicated that approximately 465,000 Israeli settlers reside in the West Bank across around 300 settlements, which are considered illegal under international law. Earlier this month, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres 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”. The foreign ministers urged Israel to immediately release withheld tax revenues owed to the Palestinian Authority in accordance with the 1994 Paris Protocol, emphasizing the need to maintain the historic and legal status quo in Jerusalem, especially during Ramadan.
