The foreign ministers of five Arab countries who had planned to visit the occupied West Bank this weekend on Saturday condemned Israel’s decision to block their plans.
The ministers condemned “Israel’s decision to ban the delegation’s visit to Ramallah (on Sunday) to meet with the president of the State of Palestine, Mahmud Abbas”, the Jordanian foreign ministry said.
Ministers from Egypt, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates had been expected to take part alongside Turkey and the secretary-general of the Arab League.
Israel had announced late Friday that it would not cooperate, effectively blocking the visit as it controls the territory’s borders and airspace.
Abbas “intended to host in Ramallah a provocative meeting of foreign ministers from Arab countries to discuss the promotion of the establishment of a Palestinian state,” said a statement attributed to an unidentified official.
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“Such a state would undoubtedly become a terrorist state in the heart of the Land of Israel. Israel will not cooperate with such moves aimed at harming it and its security.”
Had the visit gone ahead, the delegation’s head Prince Faisal bin Farhan would have become the first Saudi foreign minister to visit the West Bank.
Israel this week announced the creation of 22 new Jewish settlements in the West Bank, regarded by the United Nations as illegal under international law and one of the main obstacles to a lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians.
During a visit to one of the new settlement sites on Friday, Defence Minister Israel Katz vowed to build a “Jewish Israeli state” in the Palestinian territory.
Taking aim at foreign countries that would “recognise a Palestinian state on paper”, he added: “The paper will be thrown into the trash bin of history, and the State of Israel will flourish and prosper.”
In June, Saudi Arabia and France are to co-chair an international conference at UN headquarters meant to resurrect the two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Saudi Arabia was said to have been close to recognising Israel before the start of the Gaza war, and US President Donald Trump, during a recent visit to Riyadh, called normalisation between the countries “my fervent hope and wish”.
But de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has said Saudi Arabia will not recognise Israel without an independent Palestinian state.
Israel’s decision to prevent an Arab delegation from visiting Ramallah and meeting with Palestinian officials “represents a blatant violation of Israel’s obligations as the occupying power,” Jordan’s foreign affairs ministry said in a statement.
Members of the ministerial committee, assigned by the extraordinary joint Arab-Islamic summit on Gaza, decided to postpone the visit to Ramallah after Israel refused the delegation’s entry through the airspace of the occupied West Bank, which it controls.
“It reflects the extent of the Israeli government’s arrogance, its disregard for international law, and its continued illegitimate measures and policies that besiege the brotherly Palestinian people and their legitimate leadership, perpetuate the occupation, and undermine the chances of achieving a just and comprehensive peace,” the foreign ministry said.
The delegation included ministers from Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, Palestinian Authority officials said. The ministers would require Israeli consent to travel to the West Bank from Jordan.
An Israeli official said the ministers intended to take part in “a provocative meeting” to discuss promoting the establishment of a Palestinian state.
“Such a state would undoubtedly become a terrorist state in the heart of the land of Israel,” the official said. “Israel will not cooperate with such moves aimed at harming it and its security.”
A Palestinian Authority official said that the issue of whether the meeting in Ramallah would be able to go ahead was under discussion.
The move comes ahead of an international conference, co-chaired by France and Saudi Arabia, due to be held in New York on June 17-20 to discuss the issue of Palestinian statehood.
Israel has come under increasing pressure from the United Nations and European countries which favor a two-state solution to the Israeli Palestinian conflict, under which an independent Palestinian state would exist alongside Israel.
French President Emmanuel Macron said on Friday that recognizing a Palestinian state was not only a “moral duty but a political necessity.”
Israel this week announced the creation of 22 new West Bank settlements, which are regularly condemned by the United Nations as illegal under international law, and are seen as one of the main obstacles to a lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians.
On Friday, visiting one of the areas slated for recognition, Defense Minister Israel Katz vowed to build a “Jewish Israeli state” in the West Bank.
Taking aim at foreign countries that would “recognize a Palestinian state on paper”, he added: “The paper will be thrown into the trash bin of history, and the State of Israel will flourish and prosper.”
