Various foreign ministers condemn Israel over West Bank moves, statement says
Palestinian children and journalists disperse as Israeli tanks enter the Jenin camp for Palestinian refugees in the occupied West Bank. PHOTO: AFP
The foreign ministers of Brazil, France, Spain, Turkey and various other states condemned Israeli decisions that they said introduce sweeping extensions to unlawful Israeli control over the West Bank.
"Changes are wide-ranging, reclassifying Palestinian land as so-called Israeli ‘state land’, accelerating illegal settlement activity, and further entrenching Israeli administration," said the joint statement, issued late on Monday by the Turkish Foreign Ministry.
#Statement | We, the Foreign Ministers of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the Federative Republic of Brazil, the French Republic, the Kingdom of Denmark, the Republic of Finland, the Republic of Iceland, the Republic of Indonesia, Ireland, the Arab Republic of Egypt, the Hashemite… pic.twitter.com/VgrV2EXo9t
Other countries to sign the statement included Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Qatar, as well as the heads of the Arab League and Organisation of Islamic Cooperation.
Statement | Nineteen countries, along with the Arab League and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, condemn in a joint statement the Israeli decisions that introduce wide-ranging expansions to Israel’s illegal control over the West Bank
Doha | February 23, 2026
We, the… pic.twitter.com/3Z9XfKbgZgPakistan and 13 other countries have condemned remarks by US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee suggesting he would not oppose Tel Aviv taking over large parts of the Middle East, the Foreign Office said Sunday.
Speaking to journalist Tucker Carlson this week, Huckabee argued Israel has a biblical right to land stretching from the Nile to the Euphrates River. “It would be fine if they took it all,” he said after Carlson noted the verse includes territory between the Euphrates in Iraq and the Nile in Egypt.
In a joint statement, foreign ministers from Pakistan, Egypt, Jordan, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Indonesia, Kuwait, Oman, Turkiye, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Lebanon, Syria and Palestine, along with the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, League of Arab States and Gulf Cooperation Council, expressed “profound concern”.
Read: Trump threatens countries who ‘play games’ will be forced to pay higher tariffs
Israel's cabinet on February 15 approved further measures to tighten Israel's control over the occupied West Bank and make it easier for settlers to buy land, a move Palestinians called a "de facto annexation".
The West Bank is among the territories that Palestinians seek for a future independent state. Much of it is under Israeli military control, with limited Palestinian self-rule in some areas run by the Western-backed Palestinian Authority.
The joint statement said the settlements, and decisions designed to further them, are "a flagrant violation of international law" and a step towards "unacceptable de facto annexation".
It said they also undermine the ongoing efforts for peace and stability in the region and threaten any meaningful prospect of regional integration.
United States President Donald Trump on Thursday promised $10 billion for a new "Board of Peace", an amorphous new institution focused first on Gaza that is being launched just as he threatens Iran with war.