Eighty-five UN member states have condemned Israel’s latest settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank, as Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich vowed to use his next term to push Palestinians to leave the West Bank and Gaza.
The coordinated rebuke, delivered in New York on Tuesday, followed a decision by Israel’s security cabinet on Sunday to intensify its grip on the occupied territory and streamline settlers’ acquisition of Palestinian land—steps Palestinians describe as de facto annexation.
Smotrich, leader of the Religious Zionism party, made his remarks during a party event outlining what he described as the next government’s goals. Those goals include formally and practically dismantling the 1990s Oslo Accords and imposing Israeli sovereignty over the occupied West Bank—a move widely regarded as outright annexation.
General elections in Israel are scheduled to be held by October. Smotrich’s party continues to poll with support, according to Sky News.
“We will eliminate the idea of an Arab terror state,”—referring to international calls for the establishment of a Palestinian state—“We will finally, formally, and in practical terms nullify the cursed Oslo Accords and embark on a path toward sovereignty, while encouraging emigration from both Gaza and Judea and Samaria,” Smotrich added, using the biblical term Israeli officials often deploy for the West Bank.
Israeli leaders, including Smotrich, have repeatedly promoted the idea of encouraging Palestinian emigration—a proposal widely characterized by critics as ethnic cleansing. His latest comments came after Israel’s security cabinet approved further measures on Sunday to consolidate Israeli control over the occupied West Bank and facilitate settlers’ land purchases.
Expanding control on the ground
The cabinet’s decision is part of a series of steps taken by Israel this month to expand its control over the territory. Smotrich previously described the policy as a “settlement revolution” aimed at asserting control over West Bank land. The Palestinian Authority and Hamas called the measures a dangerous escalation and an open land grab.
According to Al Jazeera, the latest decision authorizes Israel’s Justice Ministry Registration and Land Settlement Authority to operate inside the occupied West Bank. The measure would register vast swaths of occupied land in the name of the “State of Israel” in official records and dedicate substantial budgets and personnel to resolving land disputes in ways that entrench settlement expansion.
Under international law, such measures are considered void. UN Security Council Resolution 2334, adopted Dec. 23, 2016 by an overwhelming majority, states that Israel, as the occupying power, has no right to alter existing laws in occupied territory or transfer public land to its own citizens.
The resolution reaffirmed that Israel’s establishment and expansion of settlements in Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, including East Jerusalem, has “no legal validity” and constitutes a “flagrant violation” of international law and a major obstacle to achieving a two-state solution and a just peace.
International rebuke
The 85 signatories to Tuesday’s statement included France, China, Saudi Arabia and Russia, as well as organizations such as the European Union and the League of Arab States.
The statement said Israel’s unilateral decisions and actions “contravene Israel’s obligations under international law and must be reversed immediately,” expressing “unequivocal opposition to any form of annexation.”
“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,” the statement said, warning that such policies undermine ongoing efforts to achieve peace and stability in the region and threaten the prospects of a negotiated settlement to end the conflict.
In late September, US President Donald Trump told Arab and Islamic leaders during a meeting that he would not allow Israel to annex the West Bank. However, on Dec. 11, Israel’s security cabinet approved a plan to establish 19 new settlements—a move rights groups said would entrench irreversible facts on the ground and mark one of the most significant expansions of settlement construction in years.
In July, Israel’s Knesset voted 71-13 in favor of a bill calling on the government to “impose Israeli sovereignty” over the West Bank. The bill states that the West Bank and the Jordan Valley are an inseparable part of what it described as the “historic homeland of the Jewish people,” and calls for strategic steps to entrench what proponents describe as a “historic right” and to achieve national security.
