Israel Matzav: Calls growing to annex 'Area C'

Monday, April 28, 2014

Calls growing to annex 'Area C'

For those wondering, I took my 14-year old son on an all-day trip to northern Israel today. We came home around 9:00 and I immediately collapsed for a few hours....

With the 'peace process' officially over and done with for now, calls are growing within Israel's governing coalition to annex 'Area C,' the part of Judea and Samaria that includes the Jews who live in Judea and Samaria and the highways that Israelis use to traverse those areas. The latest minister to call for annexation is Gilad Erdan, who is the highest-ranking Likud functionary to issue such a call.

On Sunday morning the newly appointed Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories Brig. Gen. Yoav (Paulie) Mordechai announced that approvals of master plans for 19 Palestinian villages in Area C had been frozen.

He spoke at a Foreign Affairs and Defense sub-committee on Judea and Samaria, which focused on the issue of illegal Palestinian construction. His statement was unusual. Israel is often accused of imposing a de-facto policy that prevents Palestinian development in Area C, but its officials have rarely publicly articulately a policy to halt such building, even temporarily.

His spokesman Guy Inbar explained that defense minister Ehud Barak gave his initial approval to the plans. Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon advanced them during the last nine-months, when Israeli and Palestinian teams were negotiating, Inbar said.

Europe and the United Nations have increasingly in the last few years focused on shoring up Palestinian development in Area C, including with financial assistance, because they view it as vital to the viability of a future Palestinian state.

But as they increase their support for Palestinian development of Area C, political voices in support of Israel's annexation of Area C have grown stronger.

Communications Minister Gilad Erdan – a cabinet minister considered close to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu – said that Israel should also begin "preparing for the declaration of Israeli sovereignty" over regions of Area C which have large Jewish populations, otherwise known as the settlement blocs, and which it is "clear" will always remain a part of Israel.

In the 1990s, the Oslo Accords divided the West Bank into three “areas:"

Area A, comprising some 18% of the territory, was transferred to the Palestinian Authority, where it enjoys most governmental powers.

Area B, making up 22% of the territories, was divided between Israel and the Palestinians, with Israel retaining security control, and civil matters given to the Palestinian Authority.

Area C, the largest area comprising some 60% of the territory – including all the settlement lands – remained in Israeli hands.

Erdan told Israel Radio that as a result of the Fatah-Hamas unity plan, Israel needed to send a "clear message" to the Palestinian leadership and the Palestinian people that "they will lose with their unilateral steps, which will be answered by unilateral steps on our part."

Erdan said that there were clear steps that he felt Israel should already be taking, such as deducting debts the PA owes Israel – for instance to the Israel Electric Company – from the duties and taxes Israel collects for the PA and transfers to them each month.

"But if you ask me," he said, "we need to take more significant steps, such as declaring Israeli sovereignty over Area C, where the Jewish population lives, and is clear to us that they will [continue] to live there."

While Erdan is not the first cabinet minister to suggest annexing parts of Area C as a result of the Palestinian move – Economy Minister Naftali Bennett has already made that suggestion – it has added significance coming from Erdan because he is considered closely aligned to Netanyahu.