Qatar does not have official ties ties with Israel, and has repeatedly affirmed its stance against normalising with the occupation.

Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has issued a strong “condemnation and denunciation of the Israeli government’s plans for settlement expansion,” on Friday, in light of Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing government’s first day in office.

In a statement published on Twitter, Qatar called out the “blatant assault on the rights of the brotherly Palestinian people,” and highlighted Israel’s ongoing policy of forcibly evicting Palestinians in Jerusalem and elsewhere, in favour of Jewish settlers.

Netanyahu took the oath of office on Thursday, moments after the Israeli Knesset, passed a vote of confidence in his new government. Of the parliament’s 120 members, 63 voted in favour of the new government with 54 votes against.

His new government is the believed to be Israel’s most far-right, religiously conservative government in history, with many factions within Israeli and Palestinian society fearing for what is to come as radical parties now occupy senior positions.

The concoction of ultra right-wing alliances now has Itamar Ben-Gvir in place as the new national security minister and Bezalel Smotrich as the finance minister with authority over the settlements, both of whom live in illegal settlements themselves in the West Bank and have radically fascist views against Palestinians.

In 2007, Ben-Gvir was convicted of “incitement against Arabs” after he called for Palestinians in Israel to be expelled.

As per an Al Jazeera report, Palestinians now what they will consider to be even harsher policies towards them as well as the changes in the status quo of the Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem.

This year saw has already seen a dramatic increase in the demolition of Palestinian homes to make way for more Jewish settlers; with many Palestinians being forced to take down their own houses for the construction of Israeli settlements, which is deemed illegal under international law.

Qatar against normalising with Israel

Qatar does not have official ties ties with Israel, and has repeatedly reaffirmed its stance against normalising with the occupation.

“Every country has the right to establish relations with the countries it wants. But what is normalisation with Israel? Seriously, are things normal in Israel? No!” Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani told France’s Le Point in September, in his first foreign press interview since 2013.

“There are still occupied Arab lands, refugees who have not been able to return to their homes for over 70 years, Muslims and Christians, living under siege in Gaza,” said the amir.

On Monday, the Arab League reported that 223 Palestinians have been killed by Israel in 2022, condemning the occupying state’s ongoing escalations against the indigenous population.

The UN said that this year has been the deadliest for Palestinians in the West Bank since it started recording fatalities in 2005.

Save the Children also revealed that the total children killed by Israeli occupation forces (IOF) doubled this year to 34, describing this year as the deadliest for the youth in the West Bank since 2006.

Israel’s crimes in the West Bank and Jerusalem intensified in 2022 with the Zionist state continuing to conduct violent crackdowns and raids on Palestinians.

According to the UN, the IOF conducted 157 search-and-arrest operations and arrested 201 Palestinians, including 18 children.

Jerusalem witnessed the highest number of raids, with the monthly average of detainments this year reaching the highest since 2017.