At UN Security Council, Palestine envoy calls on intl. community to stop Israeli annexation, take concrete steps

Palestine's ambassador to the United Nations has urged the international community to move beyond statements of condemnation and take concrete action to halt Israel's ongoing annexation of the occupied Palestinian territories.

Riyad Mansour told the UN Security Council on Monday that Israel has accelerated its annexation of the occupied Palestinian land while deepening its military occupation in both the besieged Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank.

He warned that the occupying entity has “decided to entrench its occupation rather than bring it to an end,” stressing that it has unlawfully taken control of about 70 percent of the Gaza Strip and has effectively annexed more than 60 percent of the occupied West Bank, including all of occupied East al Quds.

According to Mansour, these actions are not only illegal under international law but also violate US President Donald Trump's so-called “plan and resolution 2803," both of which reject occupation and annexation.

He also warned that the Tel Aviv regime’s policy is designed to block the Palestinian people's right to self-determination and the establishment of an independent state.

Focusing on Israel's settlement drive, Mansour warned that plans to expand settlements in the strategically sensitive E1 area would amount to “a death penalty for the Palestinian state and the prospect for peace in our region.”

The E1 project near al-Quds covers around 12 square kilometers, with some 3,400 illegal settler units in the West Bank.

Mansour also slammed Israel for undermining the historic status quo at Muslim and Christian holy sites through repeated incursions while Palestinian communities continue to face home demolitions, forced displacement and recurring attacks by Israeli forces and settlers.

Palestine's UN envoy further condemned Israel's continued withholding of Palestinian tax revenues, describing the measure as “not only illegal and part and parcel of stealing our resources, whether financial or natural.” He warned the move is intended to bring about the collapse of the Palestinian Authority, with serious political, humanitarian and regional consequences.

Mansour stressed that, despite widespread international opposition, Israeli annexation is advancing “at a faster pace than ever, more publicly than ever,” while Israel continues to ignore international declarations.

“Annexation is an act of war. It kills all peace efforts; it cannot be bargained with. It must be stopped,” he said.

stressing that “the time for condemning and rejecting annexation is over,” he further emphasized, “Now is the time to end it once and for all and to choose resolutely the path of Palestinian self-determination and independent statehood and respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the states of the region, including Palestine, Lebanon, and Syria, towards shared security and prosperity in our region.”

Over 400 ex-European officials urge EU leaders to halt West Bank annexation

More than 400 former European officials have called upon EU leaders to stop West Bank annexation, and halt the controversial E1 construction plan.

Mansour's warning echoed concerns raised by UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, who, in a quarterly report on the occupied West Bank on Monday, condemned the “relentless” expansion of illegal Israeli settlements.

Guterres said the combined impact of settlement expansion, military raids, demolitions and settler outposts has triggered the worst displacement of Palestinians since 1967, while also increasing violence and limiting Palestinians' access to their land.

“These developments fuel tensions, further entrench the unlawful Israeli occupation, undermine the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination, and threaten the viability of a fully independent, contiguous, and sovereign Palestinian State,” the UN chief stressed.

Guterres also cautioned that planned settlement construction in the E1 area “would effectively sever the connection between the northern and southern West Bank” and “would have severe consequences for the territorial contiguity of the Occupied Palestinian Territory and present an existential threat to the two-state solution.”

According to the UN, the expansion of Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory has reached its highest level since at least 2017.

Under international law, all Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories are unequivocally illegal. The Fourth Geneva Convention prohibits an occupying power from transferring its population into occupied lands, a principle Israel continues to defy with impunity.

The UN has repeatedly said settlement expansion by the Israeli regime is a major obstacle to peace, as it fragments Palestinian land and leaves little contiguous territory for a viable, independent Palestinian state under a so-called two-state solution.

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