July 2, 2024
JAKARTA – Indonesia on Monday “strongly condemned” Israel’s recent plans to legalise five Jewish settlement outposts in the West Bank, reasserting that the two-state solution must be implemented and that Jakarta would “demand” Tel Aviv’s accountability through its diplomacy.
“Israel’s settlement and continuous occupation in Palestine’s territory are violations of international law and relevant [United Nations] resolutions,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
International condemnation has been flung against Tel Aviv since it announced late last week that it would legalise five controversial Israeli settlements in the Israeli occupied West Bank: Evyatar, Givat Assaf, Sde Efraim, Heletz and Adorayin.
Some parts of the West Bank are partly governed by the Fatah-controlled Palestinian Authority, while Gaza is governed by the Hamas militant group, which has been at war with Israel for almost eight months since Oct. 7, 2023.
Despite this distinction, Israeli officials said it would take punitive measures against the Palestinian Authority for its role in working against Tel Aviv on the international stage.
Global support for the Palestinian cause has grown stronger since Oct. 7, when a surprise attack launched by Hamas ignited a massive reprisal from Tel Aviv. As humanitarian conditions in the Gaza Strip continue to deteriorate, more countries have begun recognizing Palestinian statehood, while Israel has grown more isolated and faces allegations of genocide and other gross human rights abuses.
The Palestinian Authority has played a key role in promoting the Palestinian cause on the international stage, including by requesting full UN membership in April to grant the state voting rights at the international level.
Indonesia, a fervent supporter of the Palestinian cause, has on numerous occasions expressed its support for the Fatah-controlled governing body, asserting that the Palestinian Authority must be empowered and supported in its reform to make way for enduring peace.
Abu Youssef, a member of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), which is affiliated with the Palestinian Authority, said the settlements were “illegal colonies that violate all international resolutions”, Reuters reported.
“The decisions by the occupation government aim to pursue the war of genocide against our Palestinian people,” he told Reuters.
He said the PLO and the Palestinian Authority would continue to press for Israel to be taken before international courts and punished for “crimes against our people, and in particular in the Gaza Strip.”
Numerous countries have also denounced the settlement plans, including Jordan, which shares a long border with the West Bank.
“[Jordan] stressed the need for Israel, as the occupying power, to comply with the rules of international law and resolutions of international legitimacy, and to stop its settlement plans aimed at changing the existing historical and legal situation in the occupied Palestinian territories,” Jordanian Foreign Ministry said on Friday.
The European Union said that it “condemns in the strongest terms” the plan, adding that it was “another deliberate attempt at undermining peace efforts”.
“The EU stresses that actions weakening the Palestinian Authority must stop,” it said in a statement on Saturday.
Meanwhile, Israel conducted a strike in the West Bank on Sunday, killing a man identified by a militant group as one of its commanders, AFP reported. Five other Palestinians were injured, according to Palestinian officials.
Despite Gaza being the primary battleground for the war between Israel and Hamas, the West Bank has reportedly seen a surge of violence preceding the Oct. 7 attack, with reports of Israeli military raids and settlers’ attacks indicating record-high escalations in two decades.
The West Bank has been occupied by Israel since 1967, with a 2023 report by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights indicating that some 700,000 Israeli settlers are living illegally in the enclave.