Egypt condemns Israeli minister’s call for sovereignty in West Bank

Cairo: Egypt condemned “in the strongest terms,” recent remarks by Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich calling for the imposition of Israeli sovereignty and settlement expansion in the West Bank, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Egypt deemed Smotrich’s remarks “a flagrant violation of international law, international humanitarian law, and all relevant Security Council resolutions, in addition to the Advisory Opinion issued by the International Court of Justice on the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories,” according to the statement released on Tuesday.

The far-right Israeli Minister made the comments on Monday, expressing hope that Israel would extend sovereignty over the occupied West Bank by 2025 with the support of the incoming US administration under President-elect Donald Trump, Xinhua news agency reported.

Egypt stressed that such “irresponsible and extremist statements by a member of the Israeli government” clearly reflect Israel’s stance of rejecting the path to peace.

Cairo also warned that such remarks fuel extremism and violence, emphasising the international community’s responsibility to uphold the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people.

According to the Egyptian statement, Smotrich’s comments contradict the international community’s stance, which calls for an end to the Israeli occupation and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state along the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital.

IANS