Saudi Arabia, Kuwait condemn Israeli minister’s call to annex occupied West Bank

ANKARA (AA) – Saudi Arabia and Kuwait have joined a wave of condemnations of a call by Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich to annex the occupied West Bank.

In a statement, the Saud Foreign Ministry warned that Smotrich’s call “undermines peace efforts, including the two-state solution, encourages war, fuel extremism and threatens security and stability in the region.”

“These statements constitute a flagrant violation of international laws and relevant UN resolutions, and perpetuate occupation and the expansion of land seizure by force, which constitutes a dangerous precedent,” it added.

It warned that the consequences of continued international failure “extend beyond the limits of this crisis to affect the legitimacy and credibility of the rules of the international system, and threaten its continuity.”

The Kuwaiti Foreign Ministry described Smotrich’s call as a “flagrant breach of international law and relevant UN resolutions and a blatant violation of the Palestinian people’s right to an independent state.”

It warned that the Israeli minister’s statements “would further complicate the regional situation” and constitute a “stumbling block to international peace efforts aiming at achieving regional and world peace and stability.”

Earlier on Monday, Smotrich said he instructed Israel’s Settlement Division and Civil Administration to initiate the groundwork for infrastructure to “apply sovereignty” in the West Bank, triggering a wave of condemnations across the Arab world.

This June, Smotrich confirmed reports from The New York Times that he had a “secret plan” to annex the West Bank and thwart any efforts to incorporate it into a future Palestinian state.

In July this year, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) issued a landmark opinion that declared Israel’s decades-long occupation of Palestinian land “illegal” and demanded the evacuation of all existing settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

According to the Israeli public broadcaster KAN on Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu plans to reintroduce the annexation of the West Bank to the agenda of his government when US President-elect Donald Trump takes office.

In 2020, Netanyahu planned to “annex” the illegal Jewish settlements in the West Bank and the Jordan Valley, based on the so-called Middle East peace plan announced by Trump in January of the same year.

Territories Netanyahu planned to annex at that time constitute about 30% of the West Bank. His plan, however, wasn’t launched under international pressure and lack of US approval.

International law views both the West Bank and East Jerusalem as “occupied territories” and considers all Jewish settlement-building activity there as illegal.