Arab League condemns Israeli plan to annex parts of occupied West Bank

The Arab League has vehemently denounced the Israeli regime’s plan to annex much of the occupied West Bank, saying such a move amounts to a “new war crime" against the Palestinian nation.

“The implementation of plans to annex any part of the Palestinian territories occupied in 1967, including the Jordan Valley... and the lands on which Israeli settlements are standing, represents a new war crime... against the Palestinian people,” foreign ministers of the 22-member regional organization said in a joint statement during a virtual conference chaired in the Egyptian capital city of Cairo on Thursday.

The Arab diplomats also urged the United States to abide by UN resolutions and “withdraw its support for plans and maps of the Israeli Occupation devised under the cover of the so-called American-Israeli deal of the century.”

US ready to recognize Israeli ‘sovereignty’ in occupied Palestinian lands

The United States says it is “prepared to recognize Israeli actions to extend Israeli sovereignty” in the occupied lands belonging to Palestinians.

Arab League Secretary General Ahmed Aboul Gheit also criticized the Tel Aviv regime for “taking advantage of the global pre-occupation with confronting the coronavirus epidemic to impose a new reality on the ground.”

“This step, if taken, would eliminate the possibility of embodying an independent, sovereign, geographically connected and viable Palestinian state. This step, if completed, would end the [so-called] two-state solution,” Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki said, for his part, during the meeting.

Palestinians have expressed outrage at the Israeli regime’s plans to further consolidate its grip on territories it has seized in the aftermath of the 1967 Six-Day War.

A US State Department spokesperson said on Monday that Washington is prepared to recognize Israel’s annexation of the West Bank, and application of the Tel Aviv regime’s law on the occupied areas.

The statement came after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was confident the US would give Israel the approval within two months to move ahead with the de facto annexation of parts of the occupied West Bank.

Netanyahu confident US would allow Israel to annex parts of occupied West Bank

The Israeli prime minister has voiced confidence that Washington would give Tel Aviv the nod within two months to move ahead with annexation of parts of the occupied West Bank.

On Tuesday, the Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates roundly condemned US’ readiness to recognize the Israeli regime’s annexation of occupied territories.

The ministry said in a statement that it “condemns in the strongest terms” such statements and considers them “an extension of the unqualified US bias to the [Israeli] occupation and its expansionist colonial policies at the expense of the territory of the State of Palestine.”

Last week, the UN's special Middle East envoy Nickolay Mladenov warned Israel not to annex parts of the occupied West Bank, stating that such a move would be a “devastating blow” to the so-called two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and would violate international law.

Separately, the European Union foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, said the bloc does not recognize Israeli rule over Palestinian land, and that it will “continue to closely monitor the situation and its broader implications, and will act accordingly.”

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