The Maldivian government has denounced the move by the Israeli Knesset to give preliminary approval to bills to impose Israeli sovereignty on the occupied West Bank, in a move tantamount to annexation of the Palestinian territory, which would be a blatant violation of international law.
In a statement on Thursday morning, the Maldivian Foreign Ministry said it considers the decision as a dangerous escalation that constitutes a clear and serious violation of international law, and one that jeopardizes prospects for peace in the region.
“The Maldives considers this decision by the Israeli Knesset as a dangerous escalation that constitutes a clear and serious violation of international law. It further jeopardizes the prospects for a peaceful resolution of the conflict in the region,” reads the statement.
The Maldives reiterated its call on the international community to take urgent and concrete actions to end such provocations, safeguard the rights of Palestinian people, and to hold Israel accountable for all violations committed in the occupied Palestinian territory.
The Maldives also reaffirmed its firm and consistent support for the just and legitimate rights of the Palestinian people, including their right to self-determination and for an independent and sovereign State of Palestine, based on the pre-1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital.
Despite opposition from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Likud party, lawmakers in the 120-seat Knesset voted 25-24 on Wednesday to advance a bill to annex the occupied West Bank, in the first of four votes needed to pass it into law.
A second bill by an opposition party proposing the annexation of the illegal Maale Adumim settlement was also passed by 31-9.
Residents of the occupied West Bank urban refugee camp of Nur Shams evacuate their homes amid an Israeli assault on February 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)
Some members in Netanyahu's coalition, from National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir's Jewish Power party and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich's Religious Zionism faction, voted in favor of the bill.
The vote, which came a month after US President Donald Trump stated he would not allow Israel to annex the occupied West Bank, was held during a visit by US Vice President JD Vance to Israel to shore up the ceasefire agreement in Gaza.
Speaking before his departure from the US to visit Israel, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Wednesday that President Trump had “made clear” that the Knesset’s vote on annexation was “not something we’d be supportive of”.
“We think it’s even threatening to the peace deal,” Rubio said, referring to Trump’s plan for ending Israel’s war on Gaza.
Annexing the occupied West Bank would effectively end the possibility of implementing a two-state solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, as outlined in United Nations resolutions.
More than 700,000 Israelis live in illegal settlements on Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.
All of Israel’s settlements in the occupied West Bank are illegal under international law.
The UN principal court in 2024 said that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories, including the West Bank, and its settlements there are illegal, and should be withdrawn as soon as possible.
Members of Netanyahu’s coalition have been calling for years for Israel to formally annex parts of the occupied West Bank, and Netanyahu's government had been mulling annexation as a response to a string of its Western allies recognizing a Palestinian state in September, but appeared to scrap the move after Trump's objection.