ISLAMABAD: Pakistan condemns Israel’s attempt to annex parts of the West Bank as a “deplorable act” and a grave violation of international law, the Pakistani foreign office said on Friday, adding the move underscores Israel’s disregard for Palestinian rights.
Israel’s parliament this month passed a non-binding resolution that urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu-led government to extend sovereignty over the West Bank, including the Jordan Valley.
The motion, though symbolic and without legal force, reflects mounting political pressure from Israeli right-wing lawmakers to formalize annexation, a move that has drawn sharp international criticism.
“Pakistan unequivocally condemns the Israeli parliament’s unlawful attempt to assert ‘sovereignty’ over the occupied West Bank,” the Pakistani foreign office said in a statement.
“Such deliberate and provocative actions highlight the occupying power’s systematic attempts to undermine efforts for peace and entrench its illegal occupation.”
The development comes amid Israel’s ongoing war on Gaza that has killed more than 59,000 Palestinians since Oct. 2023, according to the Palestinian health ministry.
Pakistan maintains that the only viable remedy to the Palestine dispute is the realization of the two-state solution, which includes the establishment of Palestine as a viable, secure and contiguous state on the basis of pre-1967 borders.
The South Asian country is also using its presidency of the UN Security Council this month to help refocus global attention on the crisis in Gaza and the wider Israeli Palestinian conflict.
“These unilateral measures represent a dangerous escalation that jeopardizes regional stability and prospects for a just and lasting settlement,” the Pakistani foreign office said.
“Pakistan calls upon the international community to take swift and decisive action to hold Israel accountable for its violations of United Nations Security Council resolutions and international humanitarian law. These measures will neither be recognized nor alter the internationally acknowledged status of the Occupied Palestinian Territory.”
