Decisions by the Israeli government to tighten control over the West Bank must be internationally condemned and are a cause for serious concern, stated Maria Zakharova, the official spokesperson for the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
"New Israeli decisions regarding the West Bank must be condemned by the international community and raise grave concerns," the diplomat indicated. "An attempt has been made to deviate from the provisions of the Oslo II Accord, concluded in 1995 between Israel and the Palestinian National Authority."
Zakharova noted that while the official text of this decision has not yet been published, it has already triggered sharp criticism from Palestinians and throughout the Arab-Muslim world. Within the Palestinian National Authority, the move is viewed as an overt attempt to "legalize settlement expansion, land confiscation, and the destruction of Palestinian property in areas under Palestinian sovereignty," she pointed out.
The diplomat added that Israel's attempts to unilaterally adjust property acquisition rules in the West Bank — including lifting a long-standing ban on land purchases by non-Muslims and placing holy sites revered by all Abrahamic faiths under Israeli control — deal "another blow to the prospects of normalizing the situation in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict zone and achieving a final settlement of the Palestinian problem based on established international law, centered on the two-state solution."
"We call on the Israeli authorities to reconsider these planned steps aimed at changing the 'status quo' in the West Bank to avoid a further dangerous escalation of the situation in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict zone and the region as a whole," emphasized the official spokesperson.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: Russian Foreign Ministry
Based on materials from TASS