Reuters / Mussa Qawasma
The Palestinian Authority has announced that it will cease to recognize the division of the West Bank into three areas of differing Israeli and Palestinian control, and will lay claim to the entire territory.
The pronouncement, if acted upon, will end the current division of the West Bank into areas A, B, and C, as set forth in the Oslo Accords, signed by the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) and Israel in 1993 and 1995.
The news comes a month after PA President Mahmoud Abbas decided to halt all agreements with Israel, and several weeks after newly-appointed Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh tweeted that “we will deal with all the lands belonging to the State of Palestine as Area ‘A’, including occupied East Jerusalem.”
Israel does not respect any of the signed agreements and deals with the entire occupied Palestinian territory as Area "C". Accordingly, we will deal with all the lands belonging to the State of Palestine as Area “A”, including occupied East Jerusalem.— Dr. Mohammad Shtayyeh د. محمد اشتية (@DrShtayyeh) August 4, 2019
Under the terms of the Oslo Accords, Area A comprises 18 percent of the West Bank, and includes all large Palestinian cities. This area is under the full control of the PA. Area B – 22 percent of the West Bank – is under Israeli security control and Palestinian administrative control. Area C occupies 60 percent of the West Bank’s land but is sparsely populated. This area is under full Israeli control, and has seen a controversial expansion of Israeli settlements since the 1980s.
Though Tel Aviv has yet to formally respond to the announcement, it is extremely unlikely that Israel will relinquish its control of Area C and East Jerusalem. Indeed, the policy of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been the exact opposite. The hardline leader has overseen a steady expansion of settlements and declared upon taking office in 2009 that “all of Jerusalem would always remain under Israeli sovereignty.”
Netanyahu also declared in June that any future peace deal must guarantee an Israeli presence in the Jordan Valley, which makes up much of Area C.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday vowed to extend “Jewish sovereignty” to all settlements in the West Bank — a move tantamount to annexation — seeking to shore up right-wing support some two weeks ahead of the September 17 Knesset elections.
Speaking to elementary school students in the settlement of Elkana on the first day of the school year, Netanyahu was echoing a pledge he made days before the previous national vote in April.
The premier said that no more settlements will be evacuated, as happened in 2005 when the entire Israeli civilian presence in the Gaza Strip — known collectively as Gush Katif — was removed.
“There will be no more Gush Katif, there will be no more displacements, and with the help of God we will apply Jewish sovereignty to all communities, as part of the Land of Israel, and as part of the State of Israel,” Netanyahu said. A Likud spokesperson later clarified that the prime minister was referring to Jewish communities in the West Bank.
He also wished the kids a successful school year.
It was the first time Netanyahu used the phrase “Jewish sovereignty” in that context, having thus far used the term “Israeli sovereignty.”
During his election campaign in April, Netanyahu pledged to gradually apply Israeli law to West Bank Jewish settlements, a move long backed by nearly all lawmakers in his alliance of right-wing and religious parties, and said he hoped to do so with US support.
Last month, Netanyahu again vowed to push for Israeli sovereignty in “all parts” of the West Bank in response to the killing of 18-year-old Dvir Sorek in a Palestinian terror attack outside the Migdal Oz settlement.
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