Cairo: Thirty-one Arab and Islamic countries, together with the Arab League, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), have formally denounced Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s recent comments on pursuing a “Greater Israel.”
In a joint statement released late Friday, the coalition slammed the remarks as a “flagrant breach” of international law and United Nations Security Council resolutions.
The statement emphasized that no actions seeking to legitimize occupation such as settlement expansion are valid.
The list of signatories includes nations across the Middle East and beyond: Algeria, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Chad, Comoros, Djibouti, Egypt, Gambia, Indonesia, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Maldives, Mauritania, Morocco, Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Türkiye, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen.
The joint statement described Netanyahu’s vision as a direct threat to the national security of Arab states, their sovereignty, and regional and global peace.
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It also criticized a related announcement by far-right Israeli minister Bezalel Smotrich, who recently approved the construction of 3,401 new housing units in the E1 area of the occupied West Bank and dismissed the idea of a Palestinian state.
Beyond expressing strong opposition to territorial expansion, the signatories reaffirmed calls for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and the unrestricted delivery of humanitarian aid. They also reiterated their rejection of any forced or strategic displacement of the Palestinian people.