Prohibition on Building in Area C is the First Step of Actual Annexation

Feb 08, 2023 01:15 pm

The decision issued by Netanyahu and his partners in the Israeli Governmental Coalition during the first session of the cabinet to prevent any Palestinian constructions in Area C, based on the Oslo Accords, is the first actual step adopted by the Israeli occupation to annex wide parts of the West Bank within the occupation entity.

The related area, identified as Area C based on the Oslo Accords (1993), covers more than 60% of the West Bank land. It includes the Jordan Valley (28%), wide parts of the south of the West Bank, south of Hebron, and other areas surrounding Al-Quds from the north and west. 

The decision also includes the reconsideration of the so-called "legality" of thousands of Palestinian houses and buildings, and a number of Palestinian neighborhoods like (the Red Khan, Masafer Yatta and Sheikh Jarrah) built over geographical spots in Area C.

Moreover, Bezalel Smotrich, Israeli occupation's minister of finance and official of colonization in the West Bank, has confirmed the start of counting the Palestinian citizens by Israeli statistical agencies. This will be considered as a "mini annexation," meaning that the Palestinian citizens will receive services from the occupation in certain areas, even if indirectly. 

The last decision to prohibit any Palestinian construction works and the related decisions are based on previous, undeclared plans by the subsequent Israeli governments since the 1993 Oslo Accords, which divided the West Bank into three parts.

• Area A: covers 18% of the West Bank and represented the overpopulated Palestinian villages and cities.
• Area B: covers 21% of the West Bank and represents the less dense Palestinian areas. 
• Area C: covers almost 60% of the West Bank and represents areas inhabited by dozens of thousands of Palestinians. 
In parallel with this scheme, the Palestinian construction in Area C was prohibited through a network of settlement, bypass roads, apartheid wall, military areas and natural reserves. 

This decision is one of the main elements of the Deal of the Century, which the previous Israeli governments have started to apply parts of it gradually for years in order to gather the Palestinians in the smallest space of the West Bank (38%) and annex the largest geographical space of the West Bank (60%) by a long series of decisions and approaches. 

Expectations indicate that the Israeli occupation government will implement tangible measures during the upcoming period in light of the annexation project and within the context of resolving the conflict with the Palestinian people and their just cause for the benefit of the Israeli project in order to destroy complete Palestinian neighborhoods (Masafer Yatta, the Red Khan, and parts of the Sheikh Jarrah and Silwan) as well as to demolish dozens of houses every month in the West Bank and Al-Quds, expected to be annexed. In addition to that, to enforce more restrictions on the Palestinian people in this area to push them to migrate. Perhaps, the upcoming Israeli government will complete the same scheme with the same tools, despite their orientations to end the annexation project and eliminate all forms of Palestinian sovereignty. 
 

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