It also called for urgent action to deter the occupation and halt annexation and settlement policies that “threaten the two-state solution, the international consensus, and undermine security and stability in the region”.
Earlier on Sunday, the Israeli government approved a proposal to register vast swathes of the occupied West Bank as “state property”, the first such measure since Israel occupied the territory in 1967.
Under the Oslo II Accord signed in 1995, Area A of the West Bank is under full Palestinian control and Area B is under Palestinian civil control and Israeli security control, while Area C, accounting for about 61 percent of the West Bank, remains under full Israeli control.
The accord limits land registration by the Palestinian Authority to Areas A and B while prohibiting it in Area C.
The latest move was part of a series of measures approved by Israel’s Security Cabinet last week aimed at expanding illegal settlement building and increasing Tel Aviv’s control of the occupied West Bank.
According to Israeli media, the measures 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.
Israel has intensified assaults in the occupied West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem, since launching its military offensive in Gaza on October 8, 2023. Palestinians view the escalation — including killings, arrests, displacement and settlement expansion — as a step towards formal annexation of the territory.
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.