A formidable coalition comprising the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), the Arab League, and nineteen nations—including Spain, Ireland, Norway, and Portugal—has issued a stern condemnation of Israel’s recent policy changes in the occupied West Bank. The collective statement characterizes these measures as a deliberate campaign to alter the territory’s fundamental reality through systematic settlement expansion.
The diplomatic rebuke specifically targets Israel’s February 8th approval of sweeping administrative reforms affecting land registration and civil control mechanisms. These changes, championed by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and Defense Minister Israel Katz, effectively remove legal barriers to settlement development while enabling direct land purchases by Israeli settlers through the disclosure of previously confidential ownership records.
International authorities have denounced these policies as flagrant violations of established international law, including relevant UN Security Council resolutions and the 2024 Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice. The joint statement emphasizes that such actions constitute ‘unacceptable de facto annexation’ that directly undermines the viability of a future Palestinian state and the foundational principles of the two-state solution.
The condemnation further highlights the alarming escalation of settler violence throughout the West Bank, documenting 4,723 incidents in 2025 alone according to official Palestinian records. Recent atrocities include the arson attack on the Abu Bakr Al-Siddiq Mosque south of Nablus, where racist graffiti including the words ‘revenge’ and ‘price tag’ accompanied the destruction.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has characterized these policies as a violation of the Oslo Accords—the interim agreements that established the current administrative divisions of the West Bank into Areas A, B, and C. The new measures notably empower Israeli military enforcement of regulations in Palestinian-administered areas, potentially facilitating land confiscation and structure demolitions under the pretext of archaeological preservation.
The international coalition has urgently called for immediate policy reversal, demanding Israel respect its legal obligations and cease all actions that permanently alter the status of occupied territories. The statement additionally demands accountability for settler violence, which has resulted in over 1,000 Palestinian fatalities—including 217 minors—during the past two years.