Arab states condemn Israeli push to annex West Bank as 'illegal' and 'dangerous'

Arab governments have strongly condemned a new call by senior Israeli ministers to annexe the occupied West Bank, urging Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to act before the end of July.

The move would see Israel unilaterally apply its sovereignty over large parts of Palestinian territory, cementing control over illegal settlements, and effectively ending any prospect of a two-state solution.

Qatar labelled the calls "an extension of the occupation’s settlement, colonial and racist policies", while Egypt warned they represented "a dangerous attempt to entrench the illegal occupation of Palestinian territories".

Saudi Arabia and Kuwait issued similar statements, with Riyadh's response underscoring how Israel's ongoing war on Gaza and de facto West Bank annexation have derailed any prospects for normalising ties.

The Palestinian presidency said it "absolutely rejects" the Israeli government’s campaign to annexe the West Bank, calling it part of the "all-out genocidal war" against the Palestinian people.

Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit described the Israeli statements as “dangerous and irresponsible”, warning that the move deepens regional instability.

Under international law, all Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank are considered illegal, and any annexation would constitute a grave breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention.

The UN and the International Court of Justice have repeatedly affirmed the illegality of Israel's settlement enterprise, calling for an immediate halt to its expansion.

Yet Israel appears to be moving in the opposite direction. On Wednesday, 14 senior Likud ministers signed a letter urging Netanyahu to annexe the West Bank before 27 July, when the Knesset’s summer session ends.

The move appears to be designed to kill off any prospect of an independent Palestinian state, the bedrock of a two-state solution to the Middle East conflict, saying it would pose "an existential threat to Israel".

"It’s time for sovereignty," the Israeli ministers declared.

Signatories include Defence Minister Israel Katz, Energy Minister Eli Cohen, Justice Minister Yariv Levin, and Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana, according to The Jerusalem Post. The move comes just days ahead of Netanyahu’s scheduled visit to the White House, which ministers called "a propitious time" to act, citing support from US President Donald Trump.

The letter was celebrated by Israel’s far right with Finance Minister and settler leader Bezalel Smotrich, declaring he would "immediately" implement it once Netanyahu gave the order. Smotrich has previously made similar demands alongside other cabinet members at far-right conferences, including calls to annexe Gaza.

While official annexation has yet to be declared, facts on the ground tell a different story. Israel’s slow-motion annexation continues through daily military raids, home demolitions, land seizures, and settlement expansion across the West Bank in a policy widely described as apartheid by human rights organisations.

On the same day as the ministers' letter, Israeli forces arrested 21 Palestinians, including six children, during a raid in the West Bank town of Deir Istiya near Salfit, according to Palestinian news agency Wafa. Additional arrests were reported in Hebron and Tubas, alongside settler attacks in Jericho and Masafer Yatta.

Despite court-issued restraining orders against known violent settlers, Israeli police have largely failed to enforce them, Haaretz reported, citing defence officials.

Israel was built in 1948 on Palestinian land, and over the decades has expanded its control through wars, forced displacement, and illegal settlement building, steadily eroding the territory available to the indigenous Palestinians.