By Wallace Mawire
The State of Palestine in Zimbabwe has strongly rejected the aggressive campaign by Israeli Cabinet ministers from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party to annex the West Bank before the Knesset recesses at the end of the month. The State of Palestine said it views the move as an integral part of Israel’s all-out genocidal war against the Palestinian people.
They said should this annexation proceed, Israel would unilaterally assert its sovereignty over vast swathes of Palestinian territory, solidifying control over illegal settlements. They said the intention represents a dangerous attempt to entrench the illegal occupation of Palestinian territories, directly threatening to destroy the identity and heritage of the Palestinian state.
Ambassador Tamer Almassri has reiterated that this proposed annexation is an outrageous escalation of Israel’s systematic violations of international law that directly disregard the fundamental rights of the Palestinian people to self-determination and sovereignty over their land
He said the annexation, or the acquisition of territory by use of force or threat, is unequivocally prohibited under international law. The Ambassador said such an act constitutes a crime that falls under the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court and poses a severe threat to global peace and security
He said over the decades, Israel has persistently pursued annexation in many parts of the occupied Palestinian territory, confiscated or endorsed confiscation of Palestinian lands and resources, resulting in over 270 colonies housing 750,000 Israeli settlers.
The Ambassador said the international community must take immediate and concrete steps to prevent Israel’s annexation of the occupied Palestinian territory. He said failure to do so risks complicity, effectively being seen as accepting the Israeli Government’s systematic violation of international law and its ongoing campaign of dispossession, ethnic cleansing, and genocide.