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The foreign ministers of eight countries, Türkiye, Egypt, Indonesia, Jordan, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, on Wednesday welcomed the British government's decision to ban imports of goods from illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory and to restrict services linked to those settlements.
In a joint statement, the ministers said they hoped the UK's move would help mobilize the wider international community to take similar action consistent with international law, and to hold accountable the organizations and individuals involved in illegal settlement activity.
The UK's restrictions were announced Tuesday as part of a broader joint statement on the two-state solution issued alongside Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Iceland, Ireland, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain and Sweden, 12 countries in total.
Those nations said Israel's actions in the West Bank were undermining prospects for a two-state solution and stressed the need to preserve the possibility of establishing a Palestinian state.
They confirmed their intention to introduce national restrictions, or to support European-level restrictions, on trade in goods from settlements deemed illegal under international law, or to actively consider such measures under their own national procedures.
Israel responded to the announcement by saying it would close the United Kingdom's consulate in occupied East Jerusalem, which serves Palestinians, in response to the measures.
The eight foreign ministers urged the international community to build on the UK-led steps and adopt concrete measures to end activities that support or sustain illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory.
They said the announced measures were consistent with international law and relevant United Nations resolutions, including UN Security Council Resolution 2334 and the International Court of Justice's advisory opinion of July 19, 2024.
Resolution 2334, adopted by the Security Council in December 2016, reaffirmed that Israeli settlements built in territory occupied since 1967, including East Jerusalem, have no legal validity and constitute a flagrant violation of international law.
It also called on states to distinguish in their dealings between Israeli territory and the occupied territories.
The eight ministers' statement cited the obligation of all states not to recognize as legal the situation arising from Israel's occupation of Palestinian territory, and not to provide aid or assistance in maintaining the situation created by that occupation.
They reiterated their call for Israel to rescind all measures connected to settlement activity, as well as other measures aimed at altering the geographic and demographic character of the occupied Palestinian territory.
The ministers also stressed that Gaza is an integral part of the occupied Palestinian territory. They called for the "full and immediate implementation" of US President Donald Trump's Comprehensive Plan to End the Gaza Conflict, saying the plan should be carried out to ensure security and stability, address the humanitarian situation, facilitate reconstruction and recovery, and lay the foundations for lasting peace.
The ministers reaffirmed that what they described as "the only viable path" to a just, lasting and comprehensive peace is implementation of the two-state solution, through the establishment of an independent, sovereign, contiguous and viable Palestinian state based on the June 4, 1967, lines, with East Jerusalem as its capital.
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