RAMALLAH, September 3, 2025 (WAFA) – The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates condemned the statements made by extremist far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, particularly his provocative calls to deepen colonialism and annex the occupied West Bank.

The Ministry said these calls constitute a continuous and direct threat to the realization of a Palestinian state on the ground, based on the two-state solution, adding that they also constitute his public incitement against the Palestinian National Authority and the rights of Palestinian people in their homeland.

In a statement issued today, the Ministry considered these statements an extension of a series of provocative calls made by more than one Israeli official, and fall within the framework of committing further crimes of colonialism, annexation, genocide, and displacement of our people.

"These include the seizure of 455 dunums of land in the Nablus and Qalqilya governorates, a house in Hebron, the old Hebron municipality building, and a school, in addition to the ongoing demolition crimes," it said.

The Ministry affirmed that all illegal unilateral measures and plans by the occupation to alter the historical, political, and legal status quo in the occupied West Bank, including Jerusalem, will not establish a legitimate occupation in the occupied Palestinian territory.

"These measures are considered illegitimate and void in their essence, and constitute a disregard for the international consensus that rejects the crimes of occupation and colonialism in all their forms."

The statement concluded by saying that, while following up with countries and components of the international community on the repercussions and dangers of these incursions, it calls for the imposition of further sanctions and measures to compel the occupation government to cease its violent oppression of Palestinian people and its crimes, and to compel it to implement the international will for peace.

K.T