RAMALLAH, February 18, 2026 (WAFA) – The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates welcomed the condemnation by over 85 countries and United Nations organizations of the Israeli occupation authorities’ decisions aimed at entrenching annexation, expanding illegal colonial settlements, displacing the Palestinian people, and undermining the prospects for a just and lasting peace.
In a statement on Wednesday, the Ministry said that this broad international position reflects growing awareness of the dangers of Israeli policies, which rely on imposing facts on the ground by force, expanding colonial settlements, seizing land, and pursuing both declared and undeclared annexation initiatives, including escalating measures aimed at altering the legal and demographic character of the occupied Palestinian Territory since 1967, including East Jerusalem, in clear violation of international law and relevant United Nations resolutions.
The Ministry emphasized that the growing international consensus rejecting all forms of annexation and attempts to impose faits accomplis sends a clear political and legal message that the international community will not recognize any unlawful unilateral changes to the occupied Palestinian Territory along the 4 June 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital.
The Ministry reaffirmed that the principle prohibiting the acquisition of land by force remains a peremptory norm of international law and cannot be diminished or circumvented under any pretext or designation.
The Ministry stressed that the occupation’s escalation toward legitimizing crimes and attempts to annex the West Bank is null, void, and illegal, and that such measures will have no effect regardless of the occupation’s efforts to advance them. These actions constitute a blatant challenge to the international will and a disregard for the international legal system, requiring practical measures by all countries to pressure the extremist occupation government to halt these policies and hold those responsible accountable, said the statement.
T.R.
