The UAE on Wednesday chaired an emergency meeting of the Arab League in Cairo to discuss a response to Israel’s move to expand settlements in the Palestinian territories.
Hamad Obaid Al Zaabi, ambassador to Egypt and the UAE’s permanent representative to the Arab League, condemned the illegal Israeli measures aimed at imposing illegitimate sovereignty. Mr Al Zaabi added that Israel’s expansionist policies fuel violence and conflict in the region, state news agency Wam reported.
Decisions made by Israel's security cabinet on Sunday will alter existing property laws in the occupied West Bank that helped Palestinians to hold on to what was left of their land. One, enacted when Jordan was in control of the West Bank and East Jerusalem before the 1967 war, prohibited land sales to Israelis.
Mr Al Zaabi repeated the firm rejection of any infringement on the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people, calling for an immediate halt to settlement activities that threaten stability and undermine prospects of peace and coexistence.
He also urged the international community, the UN and its Security Council to use their responsibilities to put an end to illegal practices that violate international law.
International outrage
Arab and Islamic countries this week condemned “in the strongest terms” Israel's security cabinet's approval of measures that would make it easier for settlers in the occupied West Bank to buy land, while granting Israeli authorities expanded enforcement powers over Palestinians.
In a joint statement, the foreign ministers of Egypt, Jordan, the UAE, Indonesia, Pakistan, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar said Israel's intention was to “accelerate attempts at its illegal annexation and the displacement of the Palestinian people”.
The statement read: “The ministers expressed their absolute rejection of these illegal actions, which constitute a blatant violation of international law, undermine the two-state solution, and represent an assault on the inalienable right of the Palestinian people to realise their independent and sovereign state on the June 4, 1967 lines, with occupied Jerusalem as its capital. Such actions also undermine the continuing efforts for peace and stability in the region."
Most world powers deem Israeli settlements on land the country captured in the 1967 war illegal, with several UN Security Council resolutions having called on Israel to halt all settlement activity.
Israel disputes the view that such outposts are unlawful and refers to biblical and historical ties to the land.
The construction of settlements, including some built without official Israeli authorisation, has increased under Israel's far-right governing coalition, fragmenting the West Bank and cutting off Palestinian towns and cities from each other. Last year, 19 new settlements were approved in the West Bank.
Hundreds of Palestinians have been driven off their land by Israeli settlers in recent weeks in the worst such violence since 2023, the UN said this month.
