In the wake of continuous settlement expansion, home demolitions, declarations of state land, and forced displacement of Palestinians – all of which have increased exponentially in 2025 – on 23 July 2025 Israeli Knesset overwhelmingly approved a motion intending to unlawfully annex the occupied West Bank, claiming that the West Bank is “an inseparable part of the Land of Israel, the historical, cultural and spiritual homeland of the Jewish people” and that “Israel has the natural, historical and legal right to all of the territories of the Land of Israel, and called on Israel’s government to “apply Israeli sovereignty, law, judgment and administration to all the areas of Jewish settlement of all kinds in [the West Bank] and the Jordan Valley.” The vote represents an overt display of the Israeli Parliament’s inherent criminality, as its members near-unanimously – with a vote of 71 to 13 – endorsed the annexation of Palestinian land and, by extension, the dispossession and mass forcible transfer of Palestinians in the West Bank. It follows, and serves to consolidate, a series of unlawful legislative developments, accompanied by military assaults, and the forcible transfer of Palestinians, throughout 2025.

The Manifest Illegality of Israel’s Acts

International law’s prohibition on the acquisition of territory by force is enshrined as a cardinal principle in Article 2(4) of the UN Charter. Annexation is also prohibited as an act of aggression under international humanitarian law. Under Article 47 of the Fourth Geneva Convention (1949):

“Protected persons who are in occupied territory shall not be deprived… of the benefits of the present Convention by any change introduced, as the result of the occupation… nor by any agreement concluded between the authorities of the occupied territories and the Occupying Power, nor by any annexation by the latter of the whole or part of the occupied territory.”

The 1958 Commentary to the Fourth Geneva Convention further clarifies that “occupation as a result of war… cannot imply any right whatsoever to dispose of territory”, meaning that the Occupying Power cannot annex the occupied territory. The Commentary also makes clear that “an Occupying Power continues to be bound to apply the Convention as a whole even when, in disregard of the rules of international law, it claims during a conflict to have annexed all or part of an occupied territory.” The jus cogens status of the prohibition on annexation gives rise to erga omnes obligations, outlined in Articles 40 and 41 of the Draft Articles on State Responsibility, on all States not to recognise the illegal situation or render aid or assistance in its maintenance, and to cooperate to bring the illegal situation to an end.

The illegality Israel’s annexationist practices and policies , including settlement activities in the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, is expressly recognised in various UN Security Council resolutions, in particular Resolutions 242 (1967), 267 (1969), 298 (1971), 338 (1973), 478 (1980), and 2334 (2016). The prohibition of the acquisition of territory by force was equally reaffirmed by the General Assembly in several resolutions concerning the unlawful situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. Resolution 77/126 of 12 December 2022 emphasised that “the occupation of a territory is to be a temporary, de facto situation” in which the Occupying Power “can neither claim possession nor exert its sovereignty over the territory it occupies”. It also noted “the illegality of the annexation of any part of the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, which constitutes a breach of international law, undermines the viability of the two-State solution and challenges the prospects for a just, lasting and comprehensive peace settlement”.

In its authoritative Palestine Advisory Opinion of 19 July 2024, the International Court of Justice reaffirmed that, under the law of occupation, the control of the occupied territory by the Occupying Power must be temporary in character, and that any “policies, practices or other measures that are such as to bring the occupied territory under the occupying Power’s permanent control constitute acts of annexation.” The Court emphasised Israel’s unlawful policies and practices, including: the maintenance and expansion of settlements; the construction of associated infrastructure (including the Apartheid Wall); the exploitation of natural resources; the proclamation of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital; the comprehensive application of Israeli domestic law in East Jerusalem and the West Bank; and maintaining a restrictive and discriminatory planning and building regime for Palestinians. Through its unlawful conduct Israel is entrenching its control over the Occupied Palestinian Territory indefinitely and creating irreversible effects on the ground, leading the Court to conclude that Israel was in fact unlawfully annexing large swaths of Palestine’s territory.

Considering the fundamental serious illegality of Israel’s policies and practices, the Court confirmed Israel’s legal obligation to promptly bring to an end its unlawful presence in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and Gaza, including by evacuating all illegal settlers, repealing all legislation and measures creating or maintaining the unlawful situation, and the return of all Palestinians displaced from the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

Israel’s de facto annexation of substantial parts of the Occupied Palestinian Territory, now accompanied by a Knesset resolution calling for full Israeli sovereignty, law, judgment and administration over the West Bank, constitutes a flagrant violation of Palestinians’ inalienable right to self-determination. Israel’s conduct violates Palestine’s territorial integrity, and  causes the forcible transfer of Palestinians from their ancestral homelands – which are increasingly fragmented by Israel’s policies and practices of settlement expansion, incentivising outposts, and restructuring and displacing Palestinian communities across the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.

Third State Obligations in relation to Israel’s Annexation of the Occupied Palestinian Territory

As outlined above, the jus cogens status of the prohibition on annexation gives rise to erga omnes obligations on all States not to recognise the illegal situation or render aid or assistance in its maintenance, and to cooperate to bring the illegal situation to an end. Third States have systematically failed in their responsibility not to render aid or assistance in the maintenance of Israeli breaches of international law, including through corporate complicity in illegal settlements. No effective measures have ever been taken to bring the illegal situation to an end.

Rather than collectively enforcing international law, many third States – particularly Israel’s Western allies – are complicit in Israel’s crimes and have even entrenched their support for Israel’s violations through deepening diplomatic, economic, and military ties, even as Israel openly defies the most fundamental provisions of international law. This is notwithstanding repeated promises of annexation by Israel’s government.

Third States can no longer plead ignorance or neutrality – continued inaction makes them complicit in the entrenchment of an unlawful settler-colonial, apartheid regime of racial domination and oppression, with the end goal being the destruction of the Palestinian people and erasure. Their sustained inaction and complicity in the face of Israel’s ongoing Nakba and escalating genocide undermines the international legal order, and requires immediate and concrete steps by all States to uphold their legal obligations, end their support for Israeli annexation, and act decisively to enforce the rule of law and to uphold the rights of the Palestinian people. Without urgent intervention, the international community will not only have failed Palestine, but will have endorsed a dangerous precedent that invites the erosion of fundamental norms everywhere.

Al-Haq urgently calls on third States to:

1. Denounce the Knesset’s resolution calling for full Israeli sovereignty over the West Bank, and any Israeli changes to the legal status, character, and demographic composition of the Occupied Palestinian Territory, as unlawful acts that create irreversible effects, in violation to international law and the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people to self-determination and return;
2. Implement the recommendations of the Advisory Opinion on Legal Consequences arising from the Policies and Practices of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, to not render aid or assistance to Israel’s illegal acts, and to bring to an end as rapidly as possible Israel’s unlawful presence, ensuring that Israel immediately ceases all settlement activities and evacuates all settlers from the Palestinian territory, and ensures the return of Palestinians forcibly displaced from the Occupied Palestinian Territory;
3. Demand that Israel to repeal and cease all laws, resolutions, policies and practices that aim to extend its jurisdiction and control over the occupied West Bank, and alter the demographic composition of the Occupied Palestinian Territory;
4. Use every means at their disposal to compel Israel to respect international law, including imposing a full and immediate arms embargo against Israel and immediately ceasing all diplomatic and trade relations. Sanctions should target Israeli officials, including Bezalel Smotrich, Itamar Ben-Gvir, and Benjamin Netanyahu, settlers and settler organisations, as well as Israeli institutions and entities which aid the maintenance of the unlawful occupation;
5. Regulate all entities under their jurisdiction contributing to Israel’s annexation of Palestinian territory, war crimes, apartheid and genocide. These actors must be held accountable through national legislation and international mechanisms;
6. Pursue international justice and accountability for crimes committed against the Palestinian people by prosecuting suspected perpetrators in their own jurisdictions; triggering universal jurisdiction against perpetrators of international crimes against Palestinians, including for settlement-related crimes; and publicly supporting and cooperating with proceedings by the International Criminal Court in the Situation in the State of Palestine.