West Bank areas in the Oslo II Accord

Official 1995 agreement map of Areas A and B (with C being defined as the rest of the West Bank)
2005 map showing areas A and B along with nature reserves and Israeli settlements. The red line is a projected route of the West Bank Barrier
Map highlighting Area C where the access is closed and restricted to Palestinians. Darker areas are Israeli settlements and military posts within Area C.

The Oslo II Accord divided the Israeli-occupied West Bank into three administrative divisions: the Palestinian enclaves as "Areas A and B" and the remainder, including Israeli settlements, as "Area C".

The Palestinian enclaves were created by a process of subtraction by allocating to Area C everything that the Israeli government considered "important", thereby consigning the vast majority of West Bank Palestinians to the remaining non-contiguous areas.[1][2]

Area C forms a contiguous territory on 61% of the West Bank, and is administered solely by Israel via the Judea and Samaria Area administration. As of 2015, it is home to 150,000 Palestinians[3] in 532 residential areas, and roughly 400,000 Israelis[4] in 135 settlements and more than 100 unrecognized outposts.

In contrast, Areas A and B are subdivided into 165 enclaves of land that have no territorial contiguity.[2] Area A is exclusively administered by the Palestinian National Authority; Area B is administered by both the Palestinian Authority and Israel. Area A comprises approximately 18% of the total territory of the West Bank and Area B about 22% of the territory, together home to some 2.8 million Palestinians.[5]

  1. ^ Burns, Jacob; Perugini, Nicola (2016). "Untangling the Oslo Lines". In Manna, Jumana; Storihle, Sille (eds.). The Goodness Regime (PDF). p. 40. The process was very easy. In the agreement signed in '93, all those areas that would be part of final status agreement—settlements, Jerusalem, etc.—were known. So I took out those areas, along with those roads and infrastructure that were important to Israel in the interim period. It was a new experience for me. I did not have experience of mapmaking before. I of course used many different civilian and military organizations to gather data on the infrastructure, roads, water pipes, etc. I took out what I thought important for Israel.
  2. ^ a b What is Area C?. B'Tselem, 9 October 2013
  3. ^ Hass, Amira (2012-01-12). "EU Report: Israel Policy in West Bank Endangers Two-state Solution". Haaretz. Retrieved 2016-06-15.
  4. ^ "15,000 More Jews in Judea-Samaria in 2014". Arutz Sheva. 2 January 2015. Retrieved 2016-06-15.
  5. ^ "Estimated Population in the Palestinian Territory Mid-Year by Governorate,1997-2016". Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics. State of Palestine. Archived from the original on 8 June 2014. Retrieved 8 June 2014.