A joint coalition of countries and organizations, including Indonesia, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Türkiye, Arab Legue and the OIC, has issued strong statement condemning the Israeli Knesset's recent approval of a declaration calling for the imposition of Israeli sovereignty over the occupied West Bank.

The countries denounced the move as a “blatant and unacceptable violation of international law” and a “flagrant breach” of UN Security Council Resolutions 242 (1967), 338 (1973), and 2334 (2016). These resolutions explicitly reject the legitimacy of measures taken to consolidate Israeli occupation, including settlement expansions in territories occupied since 1967.

The statement was signed by The Kingdom of Bahrain, The Arab Republic of Egypt, The Republic of Indonesia, The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, The Federal Republic of Nigeria, The State of Palestine, The State of Qatar, The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, The Republic of Türkiye, The United Arab Emirates, the League of Arab States, and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).

“These unilateral Israeli actions have no legal effect and cannot alter the legal status of the Occupied Palestinian Territory,” the statement said as quoted on Thursday, July 24, 2025, highlighting East Jerusalem as an inseparable part of the Palestinian territories.

The signatories warned that such Israeli measures would only deepen tensions in an already volatile region, particularly in light of the ongoing military campaign in Gaza and the worsening humanitarian crisis there.

Calling on the international community, including the UN Security Council, to “shoulder their legal and moral responsibilities,” the countries urged for concrete action to halt Israel’s “illegal policies aimed at imposing a fait accompli by force.”

The coalition also reiterated its commitment to the two-state solution, grounded in international law and the Arab Peace Initiative, calling for the establishment of an independent and sovereign Palestinian state along the pre-June 4, 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital.

As reported by Al Jazeera, Israel’s parliament has approved a symbolic measure calling for the annexation of the occupied West Bank. Knesset lawmakers voted 71-13 in favor of the motion on Wednesday, a non-binding vote which calls for “applying Israeli sovereignty to Judea, Samaria and the Jordan Valley” – the Israeli terms for the area.

It said that annexing the West Bank “will strengthen the state of Israel, its security and prevent any questioning of the fundamental right of the Jewish people to peace and security in their homeland”.

The motion, advanced by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition is declarative and has no direct legal implications, though it could place the issue of annexation on the agenda of future debates in the parliament.

The idea was initially brought forward last year by Israel’s far-right finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, who himself lives in an illegal Israeli settlement and holds a position within Israel’s Ministry of Defense, where he oversees the administration of the West Bank and its settlements.

The West Bank, along with the Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem, has been under Israeli occupation since 1967. Since then, Israeli settlements have expanded, despite being illegal under international law and, in the case of settlement outposts, Israeli law.

Palestinian leaders want all three territories for a future state. Some 3 million Palestinians and more than 500,000 Israeli settlers currently reside in the West Bank.

Annexation of the West Bank could make it impossible to create a viable Palestinian state, which is seen internationally as the most realistic way to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.