In a statement, the Jordanian Foreign Ministry expressed its condemnation of the Israeli government's decisions aimed at imposing sovereignty and entrenching settlements in the West Bank, describing them as "illegitimate, a blatant violation of international law," and an "attack" on the Palestinian people's right to their independent state.
This came in response to the approval by the Israeli Security Cabinet of decisions that included canceling the Jordanian law that prohibits the sale of Palestinian land to Jews in the West Bank, and transferring the authority to issue building permits in the settlement bloc in Hebron from the Palestinian administration to the Israeli administration.
The statement said that Jordan condemns "in the strongest terms the illegal Israeli decisions and measures adopted by the Israeli government with the aim of imposing illegal Israeli sovereignty, entrenching settlements, and imposing a new legal and administrative reality in the occupied West Bank."
The Jordanian Foreign Ministry considered this Israeli move a “blatant violation of international law and an undermining of the two-state solution (Palestinian and Israeli), and an attack on the inalienable right of the Palestinian people to establish their independent and sovereign state on the June 4, 1967 lines with occupied Jerusalem as its capital.”
She affirmed that "Israel has no sovereignty over the occupied Palestinian territory," stressing "the Kingdom's absolute rejection and condemnation of these unilateral, illegitimate and invalid Israeli decisions and actions in the occupied West Bank."
The Jordanian Foreign Ministry warned against "the continued expansionist policies and illegal and illegitimate actions of the extremist Israeli government in the occupied West Bank, which encourage the continuation of cycles of violence and conflict in the region."
The statement renewed the call for the international community to "assume its legal and moral responsibilities and compel Israel and its extremist government to stop its dangerous escalation in the occupied West Bank and the inflammatory statements of its officials."
It called for "fulfilling the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people to establish their independent state on their national soil, as the only way to achieve a just and comprehensive peace that guarantees security and stability in the region."
Earlier on Sunday, the Israeli cabinet approved new decisions aimed at bringing about changes to the legal and civil reality in the West Bank, with the goal of strengthening control over it.
According to the Hebrew Broadcasting Corporation "Kan", the decisions included "canceling the Jordanian law that prohibits the sale of Palestinian lands to Jews in the West Bank, lifting the secrecy on land records, and transferring the powers of building permit in the settlement bloc in the city of Hebron from the Palestinian municipality to the Israeli Civil Administration.
The decisions also included expanding Israeli monitoring and enforcement powers to include areas classified as “A” and “B”, under the pretext of violations related to unlicensed construction, water issues, and damage to archaeological and environmental sites.
It is worth noting that recent Israeli decisions allow for the implementation of demolition and confiscation operations against Palestinian properties, even in areas under the administrative and security control of the Palestinian Authority.
Under the 1995 Oslo II Agreement, Area A is under full Palestinian control, Area B is under Palestinian civil control and Israeli security control, while Area C is under full Israeli control. The latter is estimated to be about 60% of the area of the West Bank.
For its part, the newspaper “Yedioth Ahronoth” indicated that part of the decisions extends to the existing arrangements in the city of Hebron, as it was decided to transfer the planning and building powers in the Ibrahimi Mosque and its surroundings, in addition to other religious sites, from the Hebron Municipality to the planning institutions of the Civil Administration (Israeli), in conflict with the arrangements of the “Hebron Agreement” signed in 1997.
Since the start of the Israeli war of extermination on the Gaza Strip on October 8, 2023, which lasted two years, Israel has intensified its attacks in the West Bank, including killing, arrest, displacement and settlement expansion.
The attacks in the West Bank resulted in the martyrdom of at least 1,112 Palestinians, and about 11,500 injuries, in addition to the arrest of more than 21,000.
