The initiative could boost the Palestinian economic sector in Area C during a period of diplomatic inactivity, but continued cooperation between Foreign Minister Liberman and the IDF could be tested if a rather quiet West Bank returns to violence.

This week, Avigdor Liberman made his first substantive foray into the Palestinian issue since becoming Israel’s minister of defense three months ago. While Liberman’s inflammatory rhetoric tends to overshadow his constructive actions, he indeed took a significant step by enabling the Palestinians to engage in economic activity, previously off-limits, in some parts of the West Bank’s Area C. The eleven projects, ranging from a medical facility to residences, will be carried out in locations adjacent to Areas A and B. While the projects may only occur in a limited geographic space in Area C, they certainly create an interesting precedent.

In recent years, greater Palestinian economic access to Area C, which constitutes 60 percent of the West Bank — although only a small proportion of West Bank residents — and is controlled entirely by Israel, has been one of the most contentious issues between Israel and the Palestinians. (As for the other West Bank sectors, Area A covers 18 percent of the territory and is made up of urban areas under Palestinian security and civil control, and Area B, accounting for the remaining 22 percent, consists of towns and villages adjacent to urban areas where Palestinians are responsible for civil affairs and maintaining public order.)

Read full article at the Washington Institute