BICOM

What happened: The Palestinian Authority (PA) is moving ahead with its decision to unilaterally cancel the division of the West Bank into Areas A, B and C, as agreed in the Oslo Accords.

• According to reports, Palestinian Local Government Minister, Majdi al-Saleh will instruct heads of Palestinian local authorities to prepare long-term development plans for Palestinians towns, regardless of whether the land is under Palestinian or Israeli civil and security control.
• The West Bank is divided into three parts: Area A (18 per cent of the territory) includes all large Palestinian cities and is under full PA control; Area B (22 per cent of the territory) includes many outlying Palestinian villages and is under PA civilian control and overall Israeli security control; and Area C (60 per cent of the territory) includes all Israeli settlements and is under full Israeli security and civil control.
• The announcement was followed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu telling elementary school children in the Elkana settlement on Sunday: “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.” In April, Netanyahu announced that he would apply Israeli sovereignty to all Israeli settlements in the West Bank.

The Context: This is not the first time the PA has announced its intention to scrap agreements over West Bank control as set out in the 1994 Oslo Accords.

• In late July, Israel’s Security Cabinet approved a plan to grant 700 building permits to Palestinians in Area C, together with 6,000 permits for construction in neighbouring Jewish settlements. Transportation Minister Bezalel Smotrich and Environmental Minister Ze’ev Elkin demanded that the plan include a stipulation that Israel would plan the construction and not the PA.
• Around the same time, PA President Mahmoud Abbas announced his decision to cancel all agreements with Israel and set up a committee under Saeb Erekat, secretary of the PLO Executive Committee, to present recommendations on establishing the mechanisms for this move.
• On 4 August, PA Prime Minister Shtayyeh tweeted: “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.”
• Since then, the PA has been trying to convince the Palestinian public that this is not a declaratory move but that it intends to take practical steps to implement it.

Looking ahead: It remains unclear how the PA seeks to implement the decision on the ground. In July, the PA failed to prevent the destruction of dozens on homes in the Wadi Hummus neighbourhood east of Jerusalem, despite the houses being located in Area A. The decision is part of the PA’s strategy to counter calls by some ministers in Israel’s Government to annex settlements in Area C. Whilst the PA seems to be taking these actions without reducing security cooperation with Israel, any attempt to build homes in Areas B and C in breach of the Oslo Accords could lead to clashes between the IDF and Palestinian civilians engaged in the construction work, and possibly also between the IDF and Palestinian security forces. If Palestinian planning authorities promote construction of Palestinian villages and Israel destroys them, this could also exacerbate tensions in the West Bank.