Representatives of the Arab Group and members of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation issued a joint statement on Tuesday in front of cameras at the United Nations headquarters in New York City.
The Permanent Representative of Palestine to the United Nations, Riyad Mansour, said he was reading a statement on behalf of more than 80 countries and organizations. He added: "We strongly condemn the unilateral decisions and actions aimed at expanding Israel's illegal presence in the West Bank. These decisions are contrary to Israel's obligations under international law and must be reversed immediately."
Mansour stressed his country’s strong opposition to all annexation attempts, reiterating their rejection of all measures aimed at changing the demographic composition, character and legal status of the Palestinian territories, including East Jerusalem, which has been occupied since 1967.
He stressed that these measures violate international law, undermine efforts to achieve peace and stability in the region, and threaten the chances of reaching a comprehensive peace agreement that ends the conflict.
He also reminded Israel of its obligations under UN resolutions and international law, stressing the commitment to the Palestinian people's right to self-determination and the implementation of the two-state solution.
A Palestinian official said on Tuesday that Israel had confiscated 2,000 dunams of land belonging to the towns of Sebastia and Burqa in the Nablus governorate in the northern occupied West Bank, which includes an archaeological site.
On the ground, a statement from the Palestinian Authority’s Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission (official) quoted its head, Mu’ayyad Sha’ban, as saying that “the Israeli occupation today issued an order to confiscate 2,000 dunams (a dunam equals 1,000 square meters) of land in the towns of Sebastia and Burqa, north of Nablus Governorate, according to an expropriation order targeting the archaeological site in Sebastia.”
Shaaban added that "the official expropriation order issued today is a direct continuation of the declaration of intent to confiscate issued previously on January 18, 2025." He warned that the order "reveals the selective use of legal tools to achieve settlement goals and constitutes an attack on the cultural and civilizational heritage of the Palestinian people."
According to Shaaban, the Israeli decision also aims to "establish de facto control over the land and allocate it exclusively for the benefit of settlers." He emphasized that "the Israeli targeting is not limited to the boundaries of the archaeological site, but extends to the surrounding area, with all the implications this has for agricultural lands.
He also warned against “imposing de facto annexation in the West Bank through legal and administrative tools that appear to be regulatory or heritage-related, while in essence they serve a function aimed at re-engineering control over the land.”
The town of Sebastia is located on the main road between the governorates of Nablus and Jenin, and covers an area of approximately 4,777 dunams. According to the Palestinian Ministry of Tourism, the area dates back to the the Bronze Age (3200 BCE) and contains Arab, Canaanite, Roman, Byzantine, Phoenician, and Islamic ruins.
On November 20, 2025, the private Hebrew newspaper Haaretz reported that "the Israeli Civil Administration (affiliated with the army) is planning to confiscate 1,800 dunams of privately owned land in the northern West Bank to develop the Sebastia archaeological site."
The newspaper explained that the confiscation order "includes the archaeological site and large areas of olive groves containing thousands of trees owned by Palestinians."
In July 2024, the Knesset (parliament) General Assembly approved a bill extending the powers of the Israeli Antiquities Authority to antiquities in all areas of the West Bank, according to a statement by the Palestinian Center for Israeli Studies (Madar).
On Sunday, the Israeli government approved a decision allowing the seizure of Palestinian land in the West Bank by registering it as "state property," for the first time since 1967. This means that any land in Area C, as defined by the Oslo Accords, that a Palestinian cannot prove ownership of will be registered by Israel in its name.
The Israeli Broadcasting Corporation also reported on Sunday that the proposal was submitted by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, Justice Minister Yariv Levin, and Defense Minister Yisrael Katz.
With the resumption of land registration, the Land Registration Unit, which is part of the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), will regulate and register land ownership in Area C, which is under full Israeli control and is estimated to be about 61 percent of the West Bank.
Under the 1995 Oslo II Accord, the West Bank was temporarily divided into three areas: Area A, under full Palestinian control; Area B, under Palestinian civil control and Israeli security control; and Area C, comprising approximately 61 percent of the West Bank, which remained under Israeli control until a permanent status agreement was reached, which, according
