UN, Arab League urges Israel to drop West Bank annexation plan

The United Nations (UN) and the Arab League (AL) have called on Israel to abandon the occupied West Bank annexation plan.

According to the details, the demand was made during a video conference of the UN Security Council, which was attended by several government ministers.

This was the last international meeting after which Israel would implement its plan on July 1.

Earlier, more than a thousand European lawmakers from 25 countries called on their rulers to intervene and stop the Israeli plan.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also told the conference that he urged the Israeli government to abandon its annexation plans.

On the occasion, Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit said that the annexation would “eliminate the prospects for peace in the future”.

“If the Israeli government’s possible move to annex part of the Occupied Palestinian Territories is implemented, it is a serious threat to regional stability,” he said.

Nickolai Evtimov Mladenov, the UN’s Middle East coordinator said that annexation can irrationally change the nature of Israeli-Palestinian relations.

“This is a threat to the end of international efforts to support a viable future Palestinian state in peace, security and mutual recognition with Israel,” he said.

It should be noted that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that the cabinet debate will begin on July 1 on the plan to expand Israel to the Free Palestinian Territories and its annexation into the state of Israel.

European Union is trying to persuade Israel to back down from its plan and is pushing for retaliation if the Israeli prime minister moves forward.

However, sanctions on Israel would require the agreement of all 27 member states.

Earlier, Palestinian Prime Minister Dr Mohammad Shtayyeh had said that if Israel annexed the occupied territories, Palestine would recognize occupied Jerusalem as its capital and declare a state on the entire West Bank and Gaza.

Read also: Pakistan supports the position of UN, OIC on the issue of Palestine: FO

The Palestinian prime minister had said that if Israel continued its plan to annex the Occupied Palestinian Territories, it would declare a state on all the West Bank and Gaza and push for its international recognition.

Note that peace talks between Israel and Palestine ended in 2014, while Palestine rejected the peace plan presented by Trump.

Palestine and the international community have outlawed Israeli settlements under the 1949 Geneva Convention, which deals with land seized during the war, while Israel has Jerusalem as its capital.