Reaction to announcement about West Bank annexation

“Oxfam strongly condemns any annexation of West Bank territory and urges the international community to reject any further steps in this plan. This serious – and likely irreversible – plan to acquire occupied territory by force, would be a violation of the most basic principles of international law.

“Whether annexation takes place today or tomorrow, incrementally or in swathes, it would be a betrayal by the international community to millions of Palestinians and would throw families into indefinite limbo. It would see an increase in discriminatory legal regimes, home raids, family separation, checkpoints, walls and fences; further limiting Palestinians’ already restricted freedom of movement and access to basic services. It is nothing less than a reversal of decades and billions of dollars of development and humanitarian work.

“Palestinian communities are at risk of becoming isolated enclaves. The annexation of the Jordan Valley in particular, the food basket of the West Bank, would render a functioning Palestinian State impossible; depriving it of the land and natural resources necessary to sustain itself.”

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