In a joint statement, the countries urged the international community to “press Israel to stop its dangerous escalation.”

Eight Muslim-majority countries condemn Israel’s attempts to impose “illegal Israeli sovereignty” in the occupied West Bank Approve controversial new measures expanding its control and making it easier for Israeli settlers to purchase land.

Egypt, Indonesia, Jordan, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates on Monday condemned Israel’s move “in the strongest possible terms,” ​​according to a statement from the Saudi Foreign Ministry.

The new measures approved by Israel’s security cabinet on Sunday have significant implications for property rights in the occupied Palestinian territories and Israeli security procedures.

The Times of Israel quoted a joint statement from Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezarel Smotrich and Defense Minister Israel Katz as saying the new rules would allow Jewish Israelis to buy private real estate in the territory and open previously secret land registries to the public.

According to Israeli media reports, the measures will also allow Israeli authorities to take charge of some religious sites and increase Israeli supervision and law enforcement in areas administered by the Palestinian Authority (PA).

Smotrich said the move was aimed at “deepening our roots in all areas of the Land of Israel and burying the idea of ​​Palestinian statehood.”

“Dangerous annexation operation”

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said the decision equivalent to de facto annexationand called on U.S. President Donald Trump and the United Nations Security Council to intervene.

Al Jazeera’s Nida Ibrahim, reporting from the West Bank town of Birzeit, said Palestinians viewed the development as “the most dangerous annexation move and the most critical decision since Israel occupied the West Bank in 1967.”

She noted that under the new rules, there was nothing to prevent Israeli settlers from owning land and “coming to Palestinian centers.”

In a joint statement, the eight Muslim-majority countries said Israel was trying to impose “new legal and administrative realities” that would accelerate its “illegal annexation and displacement of the Palestinian people.”

The countries affirmed the Palestinians’ right to “self-determination and statehood” and urged the international community to “press Israel to halt its dangerous escalation.”

The European Union also condemned Israel’s move, calling it “another step in the wrong direction.”

The West Bank is one of the areas where Palestinians seek a future independent state, along with the Gaza Strip and occupied east Jerusalem. Currently, most of the West Bank is under direct Israeli military control, and some areas have extremely limited Palestinian autonomy and are governed by the Western-backed Palestinian Authority.

More than 700,000 Israelis live in settlements and outposts in the occupied West Bank, which are illegal under international law, while some 3.3 million Palestinians live in the territory.

Israeli forces regularly carry out violent raids, arrests and impose restrictions in the occupied West Bank, and Israeli settler attacks on Palestinians have intensified, often under the protection of Israeli soldiers.

In January alone, at least 694 Palestinians kicked out of home The number of refugees in the West Bank has reached its highest number since Israel’s genocidal war against Palestinians in Gaza began in October 2023 due to violence and harassment by Israeli settlers, according to the United Nations.