Indonesia, Malaysia slam Israel's West Bank annexation plan

AhlulBayt News Agency (ABNA): Indonesia has warned that Israeli regime’s planned annexation of the occupied West Bank is a “clear violation of international law” that threatens regional peace and stability.

In a letter to international leaders and world organizations on Sunday, Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi voiced her country’s rejection of Israel’s controversial plan and described it as “illegal and in grave breach of the international law”.

The top Indonesian diplomat said the annexation will not only threaten peace and stability in the region but also undermine all efforts to achieve a two-state solution.

Separately, Malaysia's ministry of foreign affairs in a press release voiced concern over Israel’s intent to annex parts of the occupied Palestinian lands and denounced its disregard for international law.

The ministry urged the international community, in particular the UN Security Council, not to remain “indifferent and silent over plan and “to fulfill without delay its Charter responsibility towards the Palestinians.”

“The Security Council must condemn and reject the Israeli annexation plan and must ensure that the plan will never be implemented.”

“Any annexation of the Palestinian Territory by Israel as the Occupying Power constitutes outright violation of the international laws, in particular the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949, as well as United Nations Resolutions, in particular United Nations Security Council Resolution 2334 (2016),” the ministry underlined, Press TV reported.

“The action by Israel blatantly violates the peace agreement it signed with Palestine, namely the Oslo Accords of 1993 and 1995. The Israeli action clearly calls into question its sincerity towards a peaceful and lasting solution to the long standing Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It further diminishes the prospect of a two-State solution, which is supported by the international community,” it added.

Jordan's Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi on Sunday also cautioned Britain and the United States against the “unprecedented danger” posed by an Israeli scheme to annex parts of the occupied Palestinian territory, urging the international community to step in.

US President Donald Trump unveiled his controversial deal during an event at the White House alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in January, without the presence of the Palestinians.

The so-called ‘Vision for Peace’ — which all Palestinian groups have unanimously rejected — bars Palestinian refugees from returning to their homeland while enshrines the occupied Jerusalem al-Quds as “Israel’s undivided capital” and allows the regime to annex settlements and the Jordan Valley.

A deal underlying Israel’s new coalition administration, sworn in earlier this month, allows the regime to initiate the annexation legislation from July 1.

Netanyahu had already set July 1 for the start of cabinet discussions on extending Israeli appropriation to settlements in the West Bank and annexing the Jordan Valley.

In May 2018, two-thirds of the 15 United Nations Security Council (UNSC) member states raised alarm over the non-implementation of a 2016 resolution which urges the Israeli regime to stop its settlement expansion on occupied Palestinian territory.

Israel occupied the West Bank and East Jerusalem al-Quds during the Six-Day War in 1967. It later annexed East Jerusalem al-Quds in a move not recognized by the international community.

Palestinians want the West Bank as part of a future independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem al-Quds as its capital.

The last round of Israeli-Palestinian talks collapsed in 2014. Among the major sticking points in those negotiations was Israel’s continued settlement expansion on Palestinian territories.

More than 600,000 Israelis live in over 230 settlements built since the 1967 Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and East Jerusalem al-Quds.

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