EXPLAINER - How is the West Bank divided and what is under Israel's control?

What is Area A in the West Bank?

Area A covers around 18% of the West Bank and includes most Palestinian cities such as Ramallah, Nablus, Bethlehem, and Jenin. It is under full control of the Palestinian Authority (PA).

The PA manages both civilian administration, such as education and healthcare, and internal security.

Area A is predominantly inhabited by Palestinians, with no Israeli settlements.

Despite this arrangement, Israeli forces frequently conduct military operations in Area A, citing security needs, which has led to tensions with the PA.

What is Area B in the West Bank?

Area B accounts for roughly 22% of the West Bank and comprises smaller towns, villages, and rural areas. It is governed under a dual-control system.

The Palestinian Authority oversees civilian matters, including public services and infrastructure.

Israel retains security control, while the PA handles local policing.

The shared authority in Area B often creates administrative challenges for residents, with overlapping responsibilities leading to delays and disputes.

What is Area C in the West Bank?

Area C constitutes about 60% of the West Bank and is under full Israeli control for both civil administration and security. It includes nearly 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 strict limitations on construction and development, requiring permits from Israeli authorities.

Area C contains much of the West Bank’s agricultural land and water resources, making it a focal point for disputes. Israel views control over Area C as essential for security, while Palestinians and human rights groups argue that restrictions there undermine Palestinian livelihoods and economic development.

Why were Areas A, B, and C created?

The Oslo II Accord of 1995 divided the West Bank into Areas A, B, and C as part of a temporary agreement aimed at gradually transferring control to the Palestinian Authority. The arrangement was designed to last five years, during which final-status negotiations were expected to resolve the broader Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

No final agreement has been reached, leaving the divisions in place. Critics say the arrangement has entrenched Israeli control and fragmented Palestinian governance.

TWO POPULATIONS

The West Bank including the Old City of Jerusalem was part of British Mandatory Palestine until 1948 when it 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. Israel annexed Jerusalem and a surrounding belt of the West Bank - a step that has never won international recognition.

In 1994, the Palestinian Authority was established under interim peace deals, granting Palestinians limited self-rule while Israel continued to occupy the West Bank.

Not including Israeli areas of East Jerusalem, the West Bank is home to some 3 million Palestinians. About one third of them are refugees because they or their ancestors were forced to flee their homes in the 1948 war.

The number of Jewish settlers has grown to about 529,450 according to the West Bank Jewish Population Stats report, living in approximately 141 government-sanctioned settlements and 224 outposts that don't have official approval, the Peace Now watchdog group says.

CONFLICTING VISIONS

The West Bank is central to Palestinian aspirations for a state that would include the Gaza Strip and have East Jerusalem as its capital. But the peace process has long been moribund.

To Israel, the West Bank is of strategic and religious importance. It is known in Israel as Judea and Samaria and home to many biblical sites - a factor that has drawn settlers.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in 2019 announced plans to annex parts of the West Bank. But Israel suspended such steps under a 2020 deal normalising ties with the United Arab Emirates.

Palestinians say Jewish settlements undermine the two-state solution.

VIOLENCE

The West Bank was an arena of the first Palestinian uprising, or Intifada, which erupted in 1987 and was defined by confrontations between stone-throwing Palestinians and Israeli soldiers. It was also a battleground in a second Intifada, which began in 2000 and spiralled into armed conflict.

Israel began building high concrete walls cutting off parts of the West Bank in 2002, saying it aimed to stop suicide bombings. To Palestinians, the barrier - most of which is in the West Bank - amounts to a land grab.

Violence pitting Jewish settlers against Palestinians has featured prominently in the latest phase of the conflict. Settler attacks on Palestinians have been on the rise.

INTERNATIONAL VIEW

Most countries regard the West Bank including East Jerusalem as occupied territory.

A 2016 Security Council resolution reaffirmed that the establishment of Israeli settlements in Palestinian territory occupied since 1967 constitutes "a flagrant violation under international law and a major obstacle to the achievement of the two-state solution".

Across the occupied West Bank, concrete checkpoints, separation walls and soldiers are reminders of the failure to build peace between Israelis and Palestinians since the historic Oslo Accords were signed over 30 years ago.

The accord, intended as a temporary measure to build confidence and create space for a permanent peace agreement, has long since frozen into a system for managing a conflict with no apparent end in sight.

With the West Bank in turmoil, few on either side believe there is any realistic prospect of a two-state solution, with an independent Palestine existing side by side with Israel.

The accords' signing brought in a brief period of optimism, symbolized by the image of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, watched over by U.S. President Bill Clinton, shaking hands on the White House lawn. Rabin was assassinated by a right-wing Israeli in 1995, while Arafat died in 2004.

For Yossi Beilin, a former justice minister and Israeli negotiator, the accords' failure to bring peace came about because successive Israeli governments preferred to turn what was originally a temporary truce into a permanent status quo.

But while several on the Israeli government side have spoken openly about annexing the West Bank entirely, the practical difficulties of such a move have proved prohibitive.

Already Palestinians, and a number of international human rights organizations, accuse Israel of operating an apartheid system in the West Bank.

Violence in the West Bank has surged since the start of the war in Gaza. Hundreds of Palestinians have been killed, many of them armed gunmen but also including stone-throwing youths or uninvolved civilians, and thousands have been arrested by Israeli forces.