{"id":286248,"date":"2026-02-11T19:43:13","date_gmt":"2026-02-11T19:43:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/286248\/"},"modified":"2026-02-11T19:43:13","modified_gmt":"2026-02-11T19:43:13","slug":"un-chief-warns-israels-new-measures-in-west-bank-violate-international-law-jurist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/286248\/","title":{"rendered":"UN chief warns Israel’s new measures in West Bank violate international law – JURIST"},"content":{"rendered":"

UN Secretary-General Ant\u00f3nio Guterres warned<\/a> Monday that Israel\u2019s new measures in the Occupied West Bank violate international law. Guterres urged Israel to halt the new measures and commit itself to the negotiated two-State solution<\/a>, as the \u201conly path to lasting peace.\u201d His calls were echoed<\/a> by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker T\u00fcrk.<\/p>\n

The Israeli cabinet approved<\/a> a package of measures in the West Bank on February 8. The measures include repealing the limits on Israeli settlers to acquire lands in the West Bank and taking over licensing and construction authority from the Palestinian authorities in Hebron and the Cave of the Patriarchs<\/a>. The cabinet also empowered Israeli enforcement agencies to demolish Palestinian structures, on the grounds of potential environmental hazards and protection of heritage and archaeology.<\/p>\n

WAFA news agency, Palestine\u2019s state-run media outlet, reported<\/a> on subsequent Israeli operations in the Palestinian areas. The reports included the demolition<\/a> of buildings in Jerusalem, forcible removal<\/a> of villagers in Deir al-Dik from their homes, denial<\/a> of entry to Hebron for Palestinian residents, and deployment<\/a> of tear gas in Hebron residential areas.<\/p>\n

The controversial measures arguably violate the 1995 Oslo II Accord<\/a>, which divides the West Bank into three areas, with Area A and B administered by Palestine, and Area C by Israel. While Palestine enjoys administrative authority in Area B, Israel shares security control with Palestine in the area. However, the new Israeli measures extended its administrative authority to Area A and B.<\/p>\n

The Defense Minister Israel Katz and the Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich justified<\/a> the decision, saying that it would \u201cremove decades-old barriers, repeal discriminatory Jordanian legislation, and enable accelerated development of settlement on the ground.\u201d The measures however drew widespread criticism from the international community. A joint statement from Turkey, Egypt, Jordan, Indonesia, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates on February 9 accused<\/a> Israel of \u201cimposing unlawful Israeli sovereignty\u2026 thereby accelerating attempts at its illegal annexation and the displacement of the Palestinian people.\u201d Canada<\/a> and the EU<\/a> also called on Israel to halt the measures and recommit to the two-State solution.<\/p>\n

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled<\/a> against Israel in 2024 for its settlement and occupation activity in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. The court held that its settlement policy violated several international conventions, depriving Palestinians of their right to self-determination. A November 2025 report by Human Rights Watch also argued<\/a> that Israel\u2019s military operations in the northern West Bank forcibly displaced 32,000 Palestinians, constituting war crimes and crimes against humanity.<\/p>\n

Guterres addressed<\/a> the humanitarian crisis in the Occupied Palestinian Territory last week. He warned that Israel\u2019s systemic attacks against UN refugee agencies<\/a> and other international humanitarian groups<\/a> continue to hinder the access of humanitarian aid. UN Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Francesca Albanese, also urged<\/a> the UN to suspend Israel\u2019s membership on January 24, for its attacks against UNRWA.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"UN Secretary-General Ant\u00f3nio Guterres warned Monday that Israel\u2019s new measures in the Occupied West Bank violate international law.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":286249,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[85,46,43],"class_list":{"0":"post-286248","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-israel","8":"tag-il","9":"tag-israel","10":"tag-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/286248","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=286248"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/286248\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/286249"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=286248"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=286248"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=286248"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}