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Palestine’s Permanent Observer to the United Nations Riyad Mansour said Wednesday that Israel’s annexation of Palestinian land is “in full display, unchallenged,” warning that Israel “has to choose between annexation and peace.”
Addressing a U.N. Security Council session on the “Situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian Question,” Mansour said the first day of Ramadan should be a month of peace, but Palestinians in the occupied territories are unable to practice their faith freely.
He said Israel’s objective remains removing Palestinians to seize their land, citing settlements, settler violence, land expropriation, house demolitions and the takeover of land registration as tools serving annexation.
“Palestine belongs to the Palestinian people. It is not up for grabs and it is not for sale,” Mansour said, warning that recent Israeli decisions mean annexation is openly advancing and will shape the region’s future.
Referring to the Gaza ceasefire, he said it saved Palestinian and Israeli lives and led to the release of Israeli hostages through U.S. President Donald Trump’s efforts, but added that “the agony of the Palestinian people is very far from over.”
He accused Israel of seeking occupation, annexation and forcible displacement, and said its government is “looking for an explosion in the West Bank.”
Mansour urged member states to affirm that Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem constitute the territorial unit of the State of Palestine, warning that “the two-state solution must not become the two-state illusion.”
According to Israel’s state television, the government approved a proposal by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, Justice Minister Yariv Levin and Defense Minister Yisrael Katz to restart land registration in the West Bank for the first time since 1967.
The decision targets Area C, which makes up about 61% of the West Bank and is under full Israeli control, and foresees registering lands as “state property,” including property registration, sales permits and fee collection. Israeli media reported that around 15% of Area C is expected to be gradually registered by 2030.
Israeli officials described the move as strengthening settlement activity, while Palestinians and regional countries see it as paving the way for de facto annexation.
At the same session, Egypt’s Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty said that while global attention remains on Gaza, Israel continues to escalate tensions in the West Bank.
He rejected the land registration decision, called for unhindered humanitarian access, supported Gaza’s reconstruction and reiterated the need for an independent Palestinian state within the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital.
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