CAIRO, Feb 12 (Bernama-Anadolu) -- The Arab League held an emergency meeting on Wednesday in Cairo to discuss recent Israeli measures aimed at expanding illegal settlement activity and tightening its control of the occupied West Bank, Anadolu Ajansi reported.
A statement after the meeting said the Arab League Council urged US President Donald Trump to fulfil his pledge, as part of his efforts to achieve peace, and to take “practical and clear” steps to prevent Israel from annexing the occupied West Bank.
The council said any annexation of Palestinian land constitutes a war crime, expressing its support for the Palestinians' right to full sovereignty of their state on June 4, 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital and including its holy sites.
All Israeli decisions and measures aimed at seizing the Palestinian land and changing its legal status and demographic composition are “null and void” and have no legal effect, it added.
On Sunday, Israel’s Security Cabinet approved measures aimed at expanding illegal settlement building and increasing Tel Aviv’s control of the occupied West Bank.
According to Israeli media, the decisions include repealing a law that barred the sale of land in the West Bank to illegal Israeli settlers, unsealing land ownership records, and shifting authority for building permits in a settlement bloc near Hebron from a Palestinian municipality to Israel’s civil administration.
Earlier, Egypt’s state-run Al-Ahram newspaper reported that the United Arab Emirates-chaired meeting of the Arab League Council was held at the level of permanent delegates to discuss Arab action “to counter the aggressive decisions by the Israeli government."
Addressing the meeting, Arab League Assistant Secretary-General Faid Mustafa called the Israeli measures “unprecedented escalation intended to solidify the de facto annexation of large swathes of the West Bank.”
He warned that the Israeli actions “effectively undermine the political basis of the two-state solution, which still enjoys broad international consensus as the only viable framework for achieving a just and lasting peace.”
Palestinian delegate Muhannad Al-Aklouk said the Israeli decisions represent a “qualitative shift aimed at deepening annexation and territorial expansion.”
In a landmark opinion in July 2024, the International Court of Justice declared Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory illegal and called for the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
Israel has intensified operations in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, since launching its military campaign in Gaza on Oct 8, 2023. Palestinians view the escalation, including killings, arrests, displacement and settlement expansion as a step toward the formal annexation of the territory.
-- BERNAMA-ANADOLU
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