The West Bank, territory at the center of the Israeli-Pastino conflict, is divided into three administrative zones-A, B and C-according to the Oslo Agreementssigned in the 1990s.
The treaty is part of a temporary agreement aimed at gradually transferring control the territory to the Palestinian authority.
Initially, the agreement was designed to last five years, during which negotiations on final status were expected to resolve the broader conflict. No final resolution has been achieved, which maintains the initial divisions. Critics say the agreement has consolidated Israeli control and fragmented Palestinian governance.
The divisions remain in force decades later, shaping everyday governance, safety and land use in the region.
Area a
The area A covers about 18% of and includes most Palestinian cities, such as Ramallah, Nablus, Bethlehem e Jenin. These areas are under full control of the Palestinian Authority (AP). AP manages both civil administration and education and health and internal safety.
Area A is inhabited predominantly by Palestinians, without Israeli settlements. Despite this agreement, Israeli forces often conduct military operations in the area, alleging security needs, which led to tensions with AP.
Area B
Area B represents approximately 22% of the West Bank and comprises smaller cities, villages and rural areas. It is governed by a double control system.
It supervises civil affairs, including public services and infrastructure. Israel maintains security control, while AP takes care of local policing.
The shared authority in area B often creates administrative challenges for residents, with overlapping responsibilities leading to delays and disputes.
Area C
Area C is about 60% of the West Bank and is under total Israeli control for both civil administration and safety. It includes almost all Israeli settlements and most of the region’s natural resources.
Approximately 490,000 Israeli settlers live in area C, alongside a smaller Palestinian population. Palestinians face severe constructions and development limitations, requiring licenses from Israeli authorities.
Area C contains most of the agricultural lands and water resources of the West Bank, becoming a focal point of disputes.
Israel considers control of area C essential for safety, while Palestinians and Human Rights groups argue that the restrictions there undermine the subsistence means and the economic development of Palestinians.
Two populations
The West Bank, including the old town of Jerusalem, was part of Palestinian British mandate until 1948, when he was occupied by Transjordan during a war between the newly declared state of Israel and Arab countries.
Israel captured the territory during another Arab-Israeli war in 1967 and annexed it Jerusalem-a measure that never gained international recognition.
In 1994, the Palestinian Authority was established through provisional peace agreements, guaranteeing the limited self -government Palestinians.
Without including the Israeli areas of East Jerusalem, the West Bank is home to about 3 million Palestinians. About a third of them are refugees, for they or their ancestors were forced to flee their homes in the 1948 war.
The number of Jewish settlers increased to about 529,450, according to the statistical report of the West Bank Jewish population, living in approximately 141 settlements sanctioned by the government and 224 advanced posts that have no official approval, says the Peace Now surveillance group.
Conflicting views
The West Bank is central to Palestinian aspirations by a state that included the Gaza Strip and had East Jerusalem as capital. But the peace process has long lengthened.
For Israel, the West Bank is of strategic and religious importance. It is known in Israel as Judea and Samaria and houses many biblical sites – a factor that attracted settlers.
In 2019, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced plans to attach parts of the. But Israel suspended such measures due to a 2020 agreement that normalized ties with the United Arab Emirates. Palestinians say Jewish settlements impair the solution of two states.
Confrontation
The West Bank was the scene of the first Palestinian or intifada revolt, which broke out in 1987 and was marked by clashes between Palestinians who shot Israeli stones and soldiers. It was also a battlefield of a second intifada, which began in 2000 and became an armed conflict.
Israel began to build high concrete walls isolating parts of the West Bank in 2002, claiming that the goal was to prevent suicidal attacks. For the Palestinians, the barrier – mostly located in the West Bank – is equivalent to an appropriation of land.
Violence between Jewish and Palestinians settlers has stood out in the latest phase of the conflict. The attacks of settlers against Palestinians have increased.
International view
Most countries consider the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, as occupied territory.
A 2016 Security Council resolution reaffirmed that the establishment of Israeli settlements in Palestinian territories occupied since 1967 is “a blatant violation of international law and a major obstacle to achieving the solution of two states.”
Throughout occupied, concrete control, separation walls and soldiers are reminders of failure in the construction of peace between Israeli and Palestinians since Oslo’s historic agreements have been signed for over 30 years.
The agreement, conceived as a temporary measure to generate confidence and create space for a permanent peace agreement, has long been frozen in an apparent endless conflict management system.
With the West Bank in crisis, few of both sides believe that there is some realistic perspective of a two -state solution, with an independent Palestine existing side by side with Israel.
The signing of the agreements brought a brief period of optimism, symbolized by the image of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, under the awareness of US President Bill Clinton, squeezing his hands on the White House lawn.
Rabin was murdered by a right -wing Israeli in 1995, while Arafat died in 2004.
For Israeli’s former Minister of Justice, former Minister of Justice and negotiator, the failure of the agreements in bringing peace occurred because successive Israeli governments preferred to transform what was originally a temporary truce into a permanent status.
But although several on the Israeli government side were openly talked about attaching to the West Bank, the practical difficulties of such a movement were prohibitive.
Palestinians and various international human rights organizations already accuse Israel of operating an apartheid system in West Bank.
Violence in the West Bank has increased since the beginning of the war in Gaza. Hundreds of Palestinians were killed, many of them armed men, but also young people who thrown unsuccessful stones or civilians, and thousands were arrested by Israeli forces.
