A diplomatic storm has erupted after Israel’s new map, claiming “historical territorial rights” for Israel in Palestine and large parts of Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria, was uploaded by the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs on its Arabic-language Twitter and Instagram accounts.
Gulf countries, including Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, strongly condemned on Wednesday the publication of the Israeli map.
Official Israeli social media accounts published a map that falsely claims that parts of Palestine, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon are within Israel’s territory.
The Qatari Foreign Ministry called the publication of the Israeli map “a flagrant violation of international legitimacy resolutions and the provisions of international law.”
A ministry statement said the publication of the alleged map “would hinder the chances of peace in the region, particularly amid the ongoing brutal war on the Gaza Strip.”
It called on the international community “to fulfill its legal and moral responsibilities by pressuring the Israeli occupation to comply with international legitimacy resolutions and confront its expansionist ambitions in Arab lands.”
The UAE Foreign Ministry, for its part, called the Israeli action “a deliberate effort to expand the occupation and a blatant violation and contravention of international law.”
It underlined the UAE’s “categorical rejection of all provocative practices aimed at altering the legal status of the Occupied Palestinian Territory, and all measures in contravention of resolutions on international legitimacy.”
The ministry warned that these practices “threaten further escalation and tensions, and impede endeavors to achieve peace and stability in the region.”
It reiterated the need “to support all regional and international efforts to advance the peace process in the Middle East, as well as end illegal practices that undermine the two-state solution, and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.”
In a statement, the Saudi Foreign Ministry emphasized that “such extreme claims highlight the (Israeli) occupation authorities’ intent to entrench their occupation and persist in blatant violations of the sovereignty of states and international laws and norms.”
The kingdom reiterated “its call for the international community to assume its responsibility in halting Israeli violations against the region’s countries and peoples and to stress the importance of respecting the sovereignty and borders of nations to mitigate regional crises and support efforts to achieve a just and comprehensive peace.”
In March 2023, far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich addressed an event in Paris while standing by a map of greater Israel portraying Jordan as part of the self-proclaimed Jewish state.
For decades, Israel has occupied territories in Lebanon, Palestine, and Syria, resisting international calls to withdraw and opposing the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital based on the pre-1967 borders.
The map depicts Israel (the Jewish state) as mentioned in the Bible. Several Arab nations have condemned it, claiming that the map violates sovereignty directly. These countries argue that the newly shared map includes occupied Palestinian territories and parts of neighboring Arab lands as part of “Greater Israel”.
