Pakistan, in a joint statement with 14 other nations, condemned Tel Aviv’s attempt to impose “Israeli sovereignty” over the occupied West Bank, after the Israeli parliament passed bills on annexing the West Bank, the Foreign Office (FO) said on Thursday.
On Wednesday, Israeli lawmakers voted to advance two bills on annexing the occupied West Bank, barely a week after US President Donald Trump pushed through a deal aimed at ending Israel’s two-year military offensive in the Gaza Strip.
Trump has warned that Israel would lose its crucial backing from the United States if it annexes the occupied West Bank.
In a statement issued today, the FO condemned “in strongest terms the approval of the Israeli Knesset of two draft laws aiming to impose a so-called ‘Israeli sovereignty’ over the occupied West Bank”, calling it a “blatant” violation of international law.
The joint statement was signed by 14 countries, including Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Qatar, and Turkiye.
The FO noted that the move violated the “United Nations Security Council resolutions, particularly Resolution 2334, which condemns all Israeli measures aimed at altering the demographic composition, character, and status of the occupied Palestinian territory since 1967, including East Jerusalem”.
The statement also welcomed the “Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice of 22 October 2025 on Israel’s Obligations in and in relation to the Occupied Palestinian Territory.”
It noted that the Israeli move to annex the West Bank went against the “advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice, which affirmed the illegality of the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land and the invalidity of settlement construction and annexation measures in the occupied West Bank,” the statement said.
The FO further stated that the court ruled that “Israel has no sovereignty over the occupied Palestinian territory”.
In the ruling, the “court reaffirmed Israel’s obligation under international humanitarian law to ensure that the population of the OPT, including Gaza, has the essential supplies of daily life, and to agree to and facilitate by all means at its disposal relief schemes on behalf of the population, including through the United Nations and its entities, particularly the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA)”.
“The Court confirmed Israel’s obligation to respect the prohibition on the use of starvation, recalling Israel’s blocking of aid into the Gaza Strip and reaffirmed the prohibition of mass forcible transfer and deportation, recalling that this also includes inflicting conditions of life that are intolerable,” the statement read.
It continued: “The court further reaffirmed the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination and independent statehood, recalling that Israel’s territorial claim over East Jerusalem has been declared ‘null and void’ by the Security Council, which includes the ‘Law to Cease UNRWA Operations in the Territory of the State of Israel’, which purports to apply to East Jerusalem.”
The countries, in the statement, warned “against the continuation of Israel’s unilateral and illegal policies and practices.”
The statement also called on the international community to “shoulder its legal and moral responsibilities and to compel Israel to cease its dangerous escalation and unlawful measures in the occupied Palestinian territory, and to uphold the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people to establish their independent and sovereign state on the lines of June 4, 1967, with East Jerusalem as its capital as the only path toward achieving a just and comprehensive peace that ensures security and stability in the region”.
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