International condemnation mounted Monday in response to Israel’s moves to tighten its control of the West Bank, as both the European Union and a group of Muslim countries slammed the decision.

The statements followed those denouncing the move Sunday from the Palestinian Authority and Hamas.

Muslim countries called the decision illegal and a “dangerous escalation.” The EU called it a “step in the wrong direction.”

The security cabinet decision, announced on Sunday by Defense Minister Israel Katz and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, “dramatically” changes land registration and property acquisition procedures in the West Bank, easing Jewish settlement in the territory. It aims to deepen Israeli control over the territory, including at sensitive sites such as Hebron’s Cave of the Patriarchs. Smotrich said the goal of the new measures was, in part, to “kill the idea of a Palestinian state.”

Israel’s neighbors, as well as the EU, oppose Israeli control of the West Bank and have long called for the establishment of a Palestinian state, a prospect Israel’s government rejects.

“The European Union condemns recent decisions by Israel’s security cabinet to expand Israeli control in the West Bank. This move is another step in the wrong direction,” EU spokesman Anouar El Anouni told journalists.

The EU has weighed suspending Israel’s inclusion in agreements with the bloc covering research and free trade in response to Jerusalem’s treatment of the Palestinians, though it has not done so yet. The bloc includes allies of Israel like Germany and Hungary, as well as a number of outspoken critics such as Ireland and Spain. Despite Israeli objections, several EU countries recognized a Palestinian state during the Gaza war sparked by the Hamas-led October 7, 2023,........

© The Times of Israel