The Palestinian representative at the UN has urged the Security Council to utilise its full range of tools to enforce international law in the occupied West Bank.
Riyad Mansour asserted that the international community can no longer settle for standard condemnations, which he labelled as “business as usual”.
“Israel’s objective remains the same: seizing maximum Palestinian land with minimum Palestinians,” Mansour told the council during a high-level briefing.
He warned that the “evil system” of occupation is actively uprooting families, noting that Palestine has been confined by design to just 30 percent of Gaza and 40 percent of the occupied West Bank. “The reality is that one state is illegally occupying the land of the other state.”
Mansour emphasised that the 20-point peace plan proposed by US President Donald Trump, as reflected in Resolution 2803, must be implemented in its entirety. “All of it, the plan, the 20 points, not a la carte. You do not select from it what you like to discard,” he stated.
He implored the council to act before it is too late, arguing that the cost of global inaction is far higher than the burden of intervention. “Annexation is underway. It’s not an idea. It’s underway, brutally and relentlessly.”
US opposition to annexation
The US reiterated Washington’s opposition to the annexation of the occupied West Bank. The American envoy noted that Trump’s 20-point plan requires the Palestinian Authority (PA) to verifiably complete comprehensive reforms.
Washington also highlighted a significant milestone reached in late July, when the Palestinian resistance group Hamas committed to a formal plan for its disarmament, urging all parties to build on the momentum towards “full and irreversible disarmament”.
International alarm over fragmentation
Other member states voiced concern about the systematic fragmentation of Palestinian territory. Somalia pointed out that more than 33,000 Palestinians have been forcibly displaced, the highest number since 1967. It also warned that illegal settlers are increasingly using “archaeology and heritage claims” to justify the expansion of the occupation.
The United Kingdom expressed opposition to the reintroduction of the “E1” settlement project, which aims to bisect the occupied West Bank. Pakistan added that the “Crimson Thread” project is part of a broader effort to shatter Palestinian territorial contiguity.
France welcomed the PA’s upcoming legislative and presidential elections, while Russia argued that the American peace plan has “essentially stalled”. It noted a tragic toll, stating that, on average, one child has been killed in Gaza per day by Israeli forces over the last 300 days.
Liberia issued a stark warning that the council is presiding over the “slow-motion disappearance” of the two-state solution rather than enforcing it.
