Jakarta. Indonesia has joined dozens of other countries, including neighbors Malaysia and Australia, in condemning Israel’s latest move to annex the West Bank.

Representatives of dozens of UN states had gathered at the UN New York headquarters to deliver a joint statement. Their announcement came not long after the Israeli government greenlit a plan to designate a huge chunk of the occupied West Bank as “state property” if Palestinians cannot prove ownership.

“We strongly condemn unilateral Israeli decisions and measures aimed at expanding Israel’s unlawful presence in the West Bank. Such decisions are contrary to Israel’s obligations under international law and must be immediately reversed,” Palestine’s UN envoy Riyad Mansour said as he read out loud the joint statement in a press briefing on Tuesday local time.

“We underline in this regard our strong opposition to any form of annexation.”

Mansour was speaking on behalf of 85 states and international organizations. Major blocs such as the European Union, Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), and the Arab League also signed up to the statement. 

The Palestinian diplomat went on to say that the countries had repeated calls to the “two-state solution” as the “only path” to security in the region. This is where Palestine and Israel live side by side as two democratic states within their “secure and recognized borders on the basis of the 1967 lines, including with regard to Jerusalem”.  

In the 1967 war, Israel captured the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, from Jordan. They also took control of Gaza from Egypt. 

Indonesia, alongside Egypt, Jordan, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates, had called out Israel for its land grab in a separate joint statement. These eight Muslim-majority nations even warned that this could speed up “illegal settlement activity and land confiscation”.

President Prabowo Subianto has just set foot in Washington. He is expected to attend the Board of Peace’s inaugural meeting later this week, where members will mainly discuss the Gaza reconstruction efforts. Foreign Minister Gideon Saar will represent Israel at the talks. The board started out as an initiative aimed at overseeing the Gaza truce, but US President Donald Trump’s statements alleged that its purpose would morph into resolving other global conflicts.

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