The General Secretariat of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) condemned on Monday the Israeli cabinet’s approval of measures that aim to deepen Israeli control over the occupied West Bank and weaken the already limited powers of the Palestinian Authority.
The OIC said Israel’s “colonial settlement policy constitutes a war crime and a flagrant violation of international law and relevant United Nations resolutions, foremost among which is Security Council Resolution 2334 and the legal opinion issued by the International Court of Justice.”
It renewed its call on the international community, particularly the Security Council, “to shoulder its responsibilities and take immediate action to put an end to all crimes and violations committed by Israel against the Palestinian people, their land, and their holy sites.”
The office of Israeli far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich in a statement announced the decisions that would make it easier for Jewish settlers to force Palestinians to give up land, adding that “we will continue to bury the idea of a Palestinian state.”
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in a statement called the decision “dangerous” and an “open Israeli attempt to legalize settlement expansion” and land confiscation. He called for the United States and UN Security Council to intervene immediately.
The decision was announced a few days before Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to meet with US President Donald Trump in Washington about Iran and other matters.
The measures announced Sunday include canceling a prohibition on sales of West Bank land to Israeli Jews, declassifying West Bank land registry records to ease land acquisition, transferring construction planning at religious and other sensitive sites in the volatile city of Hebron to Israeli authorities, and allowing Israeli enforcement of environmental and archaeological matters in Palestinian-administered areas.
The measures also would revive a committee that would allow the state of Israel to make “proactive” land purchases in the territory — “a step intended to guarantee land reserves for settlement for generations to come.”
